LIFE  OF  AARON  BURR 


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HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 
BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 


THE 


LIFE   AND  TIMES 


OF 


AARON     BURR, 

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL  IN  THE  ARMY  OF  THE  REVOLUTION, 

UNITED   STATES   SENATOR,    VICE-PRESIDENT   OF 

THE   UNITED   STATES,   ETC. 


BY 


JAMES    PARTON, 

AUTHOR  OF  "LIFE  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON,"  "LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  BENJAMIN 
FRANKLIN,"  "GENERAL  BUTLER  IN  NEW  ORLEANS,"  ETC. 


ENLARGED    EDITION, 

WITH   NUMEROUS  APPENDICES,    CONTAINING    NEW  AND 
INTERESTING  INFORMATION. 


VOL.    I. 


BOSTON    AND   NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON    MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

flitoertfibe  prejtf  CambtiOoe 


1  \T 


Copyright,  1857  and  1864, 
BY  MASON  BROTHERS. 

Copyright,  1885. 
BY  JAMES  PARTON 

Copyright,  1892, 
BY  ELLEN  WILLIS  ELDRIDGE  PARTON. 

All  rights  reserved. 


TO  THE  MEMORY  OF 

THEODOSIA, 
THE  DAUGHTER. 


PREFACE  TO  ENLARGED  EDITION. 

THE  publication  of  this  work,  in  1857,  excited  con 
siderable  controversy,  which  had  the  effect  of  calling 
forth  additional  information  respecting  its  subject. 
Several  interesting,  pieces  were  published  in  period 
icals,  and  several  more  were  sent  to  me,  which  would 
have  been  of  use  in  the  composition  of  the  book. 
Since  that  time  my  collection  of  Burr  papers  has  con 
tinually  increased,  and  some  volumes  have  appeared 
which  furnished  new  material,  particularly  the  Blen- 
nerhassett  Papers,  edited  by  Mr.  William  H.  Safford,  of 
Cincinnati. 

The  new  information,  though  great  in  quantity,  and 
considerable  in  interest,  is  not  such  as  to  warrant  a  re 
casting  of  the  entire  work.  It  has,  therefore,  been 
added  to  the  present  edition  in  the  form  of  appendices, 
and  the  work  has  been  divided  into  two  volumes.  The 
opportunity  has  been  embraced,  also,  to  print  some 
further  passages  from  the  correspondence  of  Col.  Burr 
with  his  wife  and  daughter,  a  correspondence  which 
exhibits  him  at  his  best. 

The  continued  den?and  for  the  work,  after  having 
been  before  the  public  seven  years,  appears  to  show 


VTO  PREFACE    TO    ENLARGED    EDITION. 

that  the  people  of  the  United  States  still  feel  some  in- 
terest  in  the  eventful  and  melancholy  story  of  a  man 
who  was,  at  once,  gifted  and  unwise,  generous  and  un 
principled,  amiable  and  deadly ;  and  hence,  it  has  been 
deemed  worth  while  to  issue  this  new  and  enlarged 
edition. 

I  suppose  I  ought  to  feel  indebted  to  the  many 
worthy  and  able  gentlemen,  who  have  animadverted 
upon  the  short-comings  of  this  work,  in  the  fear  that 
the  exhibition  of  a  life  that  was  so  calamitous  a  failure 
might  lure  others  to  a  similar  ruin.  I  really  supposed 
that  the  interests  of  virtue  and  civilization  were  duly 
cared  for  in  the  composition  of  the  work.  I  thought 
that  the  story  itself  made  it  sufficiently  manifest,  that 
principle,  not  amiability,  wisdom,  not  brilliancy,  are  the 
foundation  of  a  life  truly  estimable  and  lastingly  happy. 
Perhaps,  however,  this  truth  was  not  brought  out  as 
distinctly  and  impressively  as  it  was  felt,  and  it  was 
proper,  therefore,  that  the  moral  should  be  further 
elucidated  by  others. 

But  I  am  still  of  the  opinion,  that,  in  estimating  the 
character  of  a  man  like  Aaron  Burr,  the  most  instruct 
ive  and  warning  consideration  is,  the  great  amount 
of  good  there  may  be  in  him.  It  is  this  which  brings 
his  example  home  to  the  great  multitude  who  esteem 
themselves,  and  are  esteemed  very  good  people,  but 
whose  goodness  is  of  the  Burrian  order — amiability, 
aot  fixed,  intelligent  principle — who  are  kept  right  by 
public  opinion,  and  by  a  natural  inclination  to  the  eas? 


PEEFACE    TO    ENLARGED    EDITION.  IX 

and  popular  virtues,  but  who  will  not  stand  the  test  of 
time,  and  of  "that  fatal  touchstone,"  Opportunity. 

Burr  was  gifted  by  nature  with  courage,  generosity, 
and  wit.  The  means  of  mental  cultivation  had  been 
his,  and  he  had  an  honorable  profession.  He  was 
handsome,  graceful,  winning,  and  high-spirited^  as 
well  as  indefatigably  diligent  and  enterprising.  He  was 
everything,  he  had  everything  requisite  for  the  attain 
ment  of  permanent  welfare,  except  that  which  has 
been  styled  the  One  Thing  heedful — a  CONSCIENCE 
enlightened  and  controlling. 

The  additional  light  thrown  upon  Burr's  character 
and  conduct  in  these  volumes  places  this  truth  in  a 
still  clearer  light,  since  most  of  the  new  information 
tends  to  show  that  his  natural  inclinations  were  towards 
virtue  and  honor.  But,  then,  those  natural  inclina 
tions  never  became  fixed  and  correct  principles  of  con 
duct.  His  conscience  was  not  truly  enlightened,  nor 
was  it  controlling.  He  thought  some  things  right 
which  were  profoundly  wrong,  and  he  did  some  things 
which  were  contrary  even  to  his  own  imperfect  views 
of  right. 

After  doing  full  justice  to  his  redeeming  qualities, 
and  after  making  proper  allowances  for  his  faults,  we 
must  still  confess,  that  the  popular  judgment  which  ex 
pelled  him  from  society,  and  which  still  refuses  to  par 
don  him,  is  upon  the  whole,  not  unjust.  Men  may  for 
give  such  a  man:  the  community  can  not;  for  there 


Z  PREFACE    TO    ENLARGED    EDITION. 

could  be  no  community  at  all,  if  the  majority  of  men 
were  such  as  he.  Every  society  properly  expels  a 
member  that  does  not  comply  with  its  fundamental 
conditions :  one  of  the  most  obvious  of  which  is,  that 
he  should  punctually  pay  his  dues.  This,  Burr  never 
did.  He  was  always  in  debt,  which,  in  an  able  nmii. 
IB  ft  certain  sign  of  moral  defect 


PREFACE. 

THE  story  of  Aaron  Burr's  strange,  eventful  life,  which 
must  possess  interest  for  the  American  people  always,  I 
attempt  to  tell,  because  no  one  else  has  told  it. 

Few  men  have  been  more  written  about  than  he  ;  but, 
generally,  by  partisans,  opponents,  or  enemies.  The  life 
of  Burr,  by  the  late  Mr.  M.  L.  Davis,  as  it  contains  a  great 
number  of  Colonel  Burr's  letters,  and  many  documents 
respecting  him  and  his  doings  in  the  world,  has  a  value 
of  its  own,  which  publications  like  the  present  can  not 
diminish.  But  the  story  of  the  man's  life  is  not  to  be 
extracted  from  those  volumes,  for  the  simple  reason  that 
it  is  not  contained  in  them.  One  may  read  Mr.  Davis's 
work,  and  Burr's  European  Diary,  and  the  Report  of  his 
Trial  for  Treason,  making  in  all  more  than  three  thousand 
octavo  pages,  and  still  be  utterly  unable  to  decide  what 
manner  of  man  he  was,  and  what,  in  the  great  crises  of 
his  life,  he  either  did  or  meant  to  do.  I  can  confidently 
appeal  to  any  one  who  has  gone  through  those  six  pond 
erous  volumes,  to  confirm  the  assertion,  that  they  leave 
Aaron  Burr,  at  last,  to  tne  consideration  of  the  reader,  a 
baffling  enigma  J 

To  have  condensed  the  information  contained  in  those 


XII  PEEP  ACE. 

thousands  of  pages  into  a  single  volume  of  convenient  size 
and  price,  would  have  been  itself  a  justifiable  work.  Much 
more  than  that  has  been  done.  To  complete  my  informa 
tion,  I  have  resorted  to  the  following  additional  sources  : 

First,  the  Literature  of  the  period,  and,  particularly, 
the  Memoirs  and  Letters  of  public  characters,  who  were 
the  rivals  and  associates  of  Burr.  The  correspondence  of 
Jefferson,  Hamilton,  and  John  Adams  has,  of  course,  been 
of  the  most  essential  service. 

Secondly,  the  newspapers  of  Burr's  day.  Great  num 
bers  of  these  are  preserved,  among  other,  priceless  treas 
ures,  in  the  library  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society, 
for  access  to  which  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Moore,  the  oblig 
ing  librarian  of  that  institution. 

Thirdly,  Aaron  Burr  himself. 

I  never  saw  Aaron  Burr,  though  in  my  early  childhood 
I  have  played  marbles  before  his  door,  and  looked  with 
curiosity  upon  the  old-fashioned  dull  brass -knocker  that 
bore  his  name  ;  having  vaguely  heard  fhat  some  terrible 
old  man,  whom  nobody  would  speak  to,  lived  there  all 
alone.  The  information  that  I  have  derived  from  Burr 
himself  comes  to  me  through  his  surviving  friends  and 
connections 

So  superior  is  spoken  to  written  language,  that  a  few 
hours'  close  conversation  with  people  who  were  really  in 
timate  with  Colonel  Burr,  threw  just  the  needed  light 
upon  his  character  and  conduct,  which  ransacked  libraries 
had  failed  to  shed.  But  for  such  conversations,  I  should 
uever  have  understood  the  man  nor  his  career.  During  the 


PREFACE.  XIII 

last  three  years,  I  have  been  in  the  habit  of  conversing  fa 
miliarly  with  many  of  those  who  associated  with  him  dur 
ing  the  last  twenty  or  thirty  years  of  his  life,  receiving  at 
every  interview  some  addition  to  my  stock  of  anecdote  and 
reminiscence.  Burr  had  a  remarkable  memory,  and,  with 
persons  whom  he  liked  and  trusted,  was  fond  of  convers 
ing  upon  the  events  of  his  career  ;  the  whole  story  of 
which,  at  one  time  and  another,  he  told  them  many  times 
over.  With  all  hia  faults,  he  was  never  given  to  self-vin 
dication.  He  was  one  of  those  men  who  naturally  make 
themselves  out  to  be  worse  than  they  are,  rather  than  bet 
ter.  He  told  the  anecdotes  of  his  life  merely  as  anecdotes. 
The  impression  which  they  made  upon  those  who  heard 
them  was  such,  that  many  of  his  stories  they  still  relate 
in  the  very  words  he  used,  and  with  imitations  of  the  look 
and  gesture  that  accompanied  each  phrase.  Burr's  own 
view  of  the  leading  transactions  of  his  life  has  thus  been 
imparted  to  me. 

Neither  cf  my  informants  knew  what  any  other  of  them 
had  told  me,  or  would  tell  me.  The  general  concurrence, 
as  well  of  the  facts  they  gave,  as  of  the  opinions  they  en 
tertained  of  the  man,  and  their  feelings  toward  him,  was 
remarkable.  The  discordance  and  contradictions  begin 
only  when  the  inner  circle  of  those  who  know  is  left,  and 
the  outer  one  of  those  who  have  heard,  is  entered.  To 
Burr's  surviving  friends,  then,  I  chiefly  owe  it  that  I  have 
been  able  to  extricate  his  story  from  the  falsehoods  in 
rhich  it  was  embedded. 

Others,  whose  acquaintance  with  him  was  slight  and 


XIV  PEEP  A  OB. 

accidental,  and  some  who  merely  saw  him  in  public  situa 
tions,  have  also  given  me  interesting  information.  The 
patient  courtesy  of  many  distinguished  gentlemen  to  a 
stranger  who  could  never  make  the  slightest  return  of 
their  kindness,  greatly  enhanced  the  obligation  which  they 
conferred. 

Such  are  the  sources  from  which  the  following  narrative 
has  been  derived.  All  of  them  have  been  used  —  none 
followed, 

It  may  occur  to  some  readers,  that  the  good  in  Burr 
is  too  conspicuously  displayed,  or  his  faults  too  lightly 
touched,  in  this  volume.  To  such  I  desire  to  say  that, 
in  my  opinion,  it  is  the  good  in  a  man  who  goes  astray, 
that  ought  most  to  alarm  and  warn  his  fellow-men.  To 
suppress  the  good  qualities  and  deeds  of  a  Burr  is  only  less 
immoral  than  to  suppress  the  faults  of  a  Washington.  In 
either  case,  the  practical  use  of  the  Example  is  lost.  Who 
can  hope  to  imitate  a  perfect  character  ?  Who  fears  that 
he  shall  ever  resemble  an  unredeemed  villain  ? 

Besides,  Aaron  Burr  has  had  hard  measure  at  the  hands 
of  his  countrymen.  By  men  far  beneath  him,  even  in 
moral  respects,  he  has  been  most  cruelly  and  basely  belied, 
the  truth  of  his  marvelous  history  be  told  at  last.  If, 
and  there,  my  natural  and  just  indignation  at  the 
urlworthy  treatment  to  which  his  name  has  been  subjected, 
has  biased  me  slightly  in  his  favor,  the  error,  I  trust,  will 
not  be  thought  unpardonable.  Aaron  Burr  was  no  angel ; 
He  was  no  devil ;  he  was  a  man,  and  a  —  filibuster. 

The  period  during  which  Burr  was  a  public  man  is  the 


PREFACE.  XV 

most  interesting  in  the  history  of  the  United  States,  after 
the  Ke volution.  It  was  then  that  Old  Things  in  this 
country  really  passed  away.  Then  arose  the  conquering 
Democratic  Party.  Then  America  became  America.  We 
are  still  only  reaping  what  was  sown  in  those  twelve  years, 
and  shall  for  a  very  long  time  to  come.  Nothing  consid 
erable  has  occurred  in  American  politics  since  the  election 
of  Jefferson  and  Burr  in  1800  —  though  one  or  two  COD- 
§iderable  things  have  been  gallantly  attempted. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I. 

JONATHAN  EDWARDS,   THE  FATHER   OF  AARON  BURB'S  MOTHER. 

'      PAGE 
20  RESIDENCE  IN  NEW  YORK   IN  1722  — SKETCH  OF  HIS  CAREER— His  Wm 

AND  DAUGHTERS — ESTHER  EDWARDS — THE  EDWARDS  STOCK — INFLUENCE  OF 
JONATHAN  EDWABDS 25 

CHAPTER   II. 

THE  REVEREND  AARON  BURR,  FATHER  OF  AARON  BURR. 

OUTLINE  OF  HIS  EARLY  HISTORY  —  PASTOR  OF  NEWARK  CHURCH — A  GREAT 
SCHOOLMASTER  —  PRESIDENT  OF  PBINCETON  COLLEGE — THE  FIRST  COMMENCE 
MENT  —  SUDDEN  MABBIAGE  OF  THE  PRESIDENT  —  His  WRITINGS  —  His  PORTRAIT  SI 

CHAPTER  III. 

AARON  BURR  BORN,  AND  LEFT  AN  ORPHAN. 


BKMOVAL  TO    PBINCETON  —  LAST   LABORS  AND   DEATH   OF   PBESIDKNT 
CHARACTER  AND  DEATTI  OF  MBS.  BUEB  —  THE  OBPHANED  CHILDBEN  —  SARAH 
EURK 45 


XVIU  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    EDUCATION    OF    AAEON    BURR. 

PAGE 

ELIZABBTHTOWN  —  ANECDOTES  OF  BUBB'S  CHILDHOOD  — HM  CAEKBB  AT  COLLEGE— 
GOES  TO  DB.  BELLAMY'S  THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOL  —  E EJECTS  TUB  PUBITANIO  THB- 
OLOGY — FOND  or  LADIES'*  SOCIETY  —  STUDIES  LAW . 51 

CHAPTER   V. 

THE    VOLUNTEER. 

Eis  QUALIFICATIONS  AS  A  SOLDIEE  — JOINS  THE  AEMY  ABOUND  BOSTON— ABNOLD'B 
EXPEDITION  TO  QUEBEC  —  BCBB'S  SEOBET  MISSION  FBOM  ABNOLD  TO  MONT 
GOMEBT  —  APPOINTED  AID  TO  GENEBAL  MONTGOMEBY  —  THE  ASSAULT  UPON 
QUEBEC  —  CAPTAIN  BUBB  BEARS  OFF  THE  BODY  OF  HIS  GENEBAL — APPOINTED 
AID  TO  GENERAL  WASHINGTON  —  REASONS  OF  HIS  DISCONTENT  IN  THAT  SITUA 
TION...  .  66 


CHAPTER   VI, 

AID-DE-CAMP     TO    GENEBAL    PUTNAM. 

TtM  BKTBEAT  FBOM  LONG  ISLAND — BUBB  BATES  A  BBIGALE —  His  AFFAIR  wmr 
Miss  MONOBIEFFE  — HEB  NABBATIVB...,  ,     85 


CHAPTER   VII. 

HE    COMMANDS    A    REGIMENT. 

ILPPOCNTKD  A  LIEUTENANT- COLONEL  — COMMANDS  A  REGIMENT  —  CAPTUBBS  A  BEIT- 
EBH  PICKET  —  FOBMS  AN  ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  MBS.  THEODOSIA  PBEVOST  — 
COMMANDS  A  BRIGADE  AT  THE  BATTLE  OF  MONMOUTH  —  ANECDOTE.  ....  S6 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE    WE8TOHE8TEB    LINES. 

PASS 

OF  THE    COUNTBY    BEFOBK   COLONEL  BURR  TOOK   THE    COMMAND  —  BuP- 

PRE88E8  PLUNDERING  — His  HABITS  AS  A  SOLDIER  —  DESTEOYS  THE  BLOCK  POET 
—  LOVE  ADVENTUBE  BY  NIGHT  —  KESIGNS  HIS  COMMISSION  —  TESTIMONY  OF  THE 
MEN  WHOM  HE  COMMANDED  —  ANECDOTES  —  INTERVIEW  WITH  MRS.  ARNOLD  AT 
PABAMUS —  EFFECTS  OF  THE  WAR  UPON  HIS  CHARACTER  AND  FORTUNE Ill 


CHAPTER    IX. 

ADMISSION  TO  THE  BAB,  AND  MARRIAGE. 

Tm  AMERICAN  BAR  BEFORE  THE  REVOLUTION — BUBB  RESUMES  HIS  LEGAL  STUDIES 
—  His  CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  MBS.  PBBVOST— ADMISSION  TO  THE  BAB— CHAR 
ACTER  OF  MBS.  PBBVOST— THEIR  MARRIAGE  —  REMOVAL  TO  NEW  YORK 130 


CHAPTER    X. 

AT    THE    2TEW    YORK    BAB. 
Hi  v  YORK  IN  178S      TOHN  ADAMS'S  IMPRESSIONS  OF  THE  CITY— THE  DIFFERENT 

KINDS   OF  LA  WYES*    -  BURR'S  QUALITY  AND   HABITS  AS  A  LAWYER  —  ANECDOTES 

—  HAMILTON  AND  J>URR  AT  THE  BAR— EMOLUMENTS  OF  THE  BAR  THEN  —  TH* 
TASTES  AND  HOME  OF  BUBB  — SCENES  AT  RICHMOND  HILL 149 


CHAPTER    XI. 

THE    NEW    TOBK    POLITICIAN. 

HB  RAPIDITY  OF  HIS  RISE  IN  POLITICS  —  MEMBER  OF  THE  STATE  LEGISLATURE  — 
OPPOSES  THE  MECHANICS'  BILL— VOTES  FOR  THE  ABOLITION  OF  SLAVERY— 
PASTIES  AFTEB  THE  PEACE  — THE  GREAT  FAMILIES  OF  THE  STATE  — "BURR'S 
MYRMIDONS"— THE  RATIFICATION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  — BURR'S  EARLY  MOVE 
MENTS  IN  POLITICS  —  APPOINTED  ATTORNEY-GENERAL  OF  THE  STATE  -  His  RE 
PORT  ON  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  CLAIMS  — SALE  OF  THE  STATE  LANDS  —  ELECTED 
•o  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  165 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    XII. 


A    SENATOR. 

PAGE 

ENTERS  THE  SENATE  —  THE  SENATE'S  INTERVIEW  WITH  PRESIDENT  WASHINGTON 
—  BURR'S  ADDRESS  TO  THE  PRESIDENT  —  LETTER  FROM  THE  FRENCH  KING  — 
THE  PRESIDENT  FORBIDS  COLONEL  BURR  TO  EXAMINE  THE  EECORDS  —  BURR 
TALKED  OF  FOR  THE  GOVERNORSHIP  OF  THE  STATE  — BURR'S  OPINION  ON  THB 
DISPUTED  CANVASS  —  SECOND  PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION  —  BURR  A  CANDIDATE  — 
HAMILTON  OPPOSES  AND  DENOUNCES  HIM  — BURR  AS  A  DEBATER —WASHING 
TON'S  EEFUSAL  TO  SKND  HIM  AMBASSADOR  TO  FRANCE  — THIRD  PRESIDENTIAL 
ELECTION  —  BURR  A  PROMINENT  CANDIDATE  —  HAMILTON  AGAIN  OPPOSES  HIM 
T)OMESTIO  LIFB  — DEATH  OF  MRS.  BURR— EDUCATION  OF  ms  DAUGHTER...  .  181 


CHAPTER    XIII. 


THE    ERA    OF    BAD    FEELING. 

FHB  THREE  PERIODS  OF  OUR  HISTORY  —  PARTIES  BEFORE  THE  REVOLUTION  —  PAK- 
T1ES  AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION  —  EFFECT  OF  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION  UPON 
AMERICAN  POLITICS  —  HAMILTON  —  JEFFERSON  —  THE  TONE  OF  SOCIETY  ON  JEF 
FERSON'S  EETURN  FROM  FRANCE  — THE  DIFFERENCES  BETWEEN  HAMILTON  AND 
JEFFERSON  —  RISE  OF  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PARTY  —  JOHN  ADAMS  —  PUBLIC  EXCITE 
MENT  IN  1793 ..  203 


CHAPTER   XIV. 


MEMBER    OF    THE    ASSEMBLY    AGAIN. 


RETIRES  FROM   THE    SENATE  —  TflE    FEDERALISTS    IN    POWER  —  PRE-EMINENT 

POSITION  OF  HAMILTON  —  BURR  IN  THE  ASSEMBLY  —  His  PREPARATORY  MA 
NEUVERS  —  HAMILTON  OPPOSES  BURR'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  A  GENERALSHIP  —  THE 
ARMY  —  THE  MANHATTAN  BANK  AFFAIR  —  BURR'S  FIRST  DUEL,  AND  ITS  CAUSE  229 


CONTENTS.  XX3 

CHAPTER    XV. 

THE    ELECTION    OP    1800. 

MM 
ILOOMT  PROSPECTS  OF  THE  KEPUBLIOANS  —  BURR  CONFIDENT  —  FEDERAL  EBKOM 

—  ABREST  OF  JUDGE  PECK  —  HAMILTON'S  SCHEME  FOE  CHEATING  THE  PEOPLE  — 
JOHN  ADAMS'S  NARRATIVE  —  BURR'S  TACTICS  — HE  WINS  OVER  GENERAL  GATES 

—  JUDGE  LIVINGSTON  AND  GOVERNOR  CLINTON  —  HAMILTON  AND  BURR  AT  THB 
POLLS — THE   VICTORY — HAMILTON'S   UNWORTHY   EXPEDIENTS — BUBB   FRUS 
TRATES  THEM  — THE  TIE  BETWEEN  JEFFERSON  AND  BUBB 243 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

THE    TIE    INTRIGUES. 

FHE  WORKS  OF  WASHINGTON,  JEFFERSON,  ADAMS  AND  HAMILTON  —  LETTEB  FROM 
BUBR  TO  WILKINSON  —  LETTER  FROM  JEFFERSON  TO  BURR  —  LETTER  FROM  BUBB 
TO  HON.  8.  SMITH,  APPOINTING  HIM  HIS  PROXY  —  LETTER  FROM  HAMILTON  TO 
SECRETARY  WOLCOTT,  DENOUNCING  BURR  —  THE  FEDERALISTS  BENT  ON  ELECTING 
BURR  PRESIDENT  —  LETTER  FROM  OTIS  TO  HAMILTON,  ASKING  ADVICE  RESPECTING 
THE  PROJECT  —  SECOND  LETTER  FROM  HAMILTON  TO  WOLCOTT  AGAINST  BURR  — 
LETTER  FROM  JEFFERSON  TO  MADISON,  DENOUNCING  THE  FEDERAL  INTRIGUES  — 
HONEST  LETTER  FROM  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS  —  LETTER  FROM  HAMILTON  TO  SEDG- 
WICK,  DENOUNCING  BURR — LETTERS  FROM  HAMILTON  TO  MORRIS  AND  BAYARI>, 
AGAINST  BURR  — KEPLIES  OF  MORRIS  AND  BAYARD  TO  HAMILTON— LETTER  FROM 
GENERAL  GREEN  TO  HAMILTON  —  LETTER  OF  GOVERNOR  EUTLEDGE  TO  HAMILTON 
—  SEDGWICK'S  KEPLY  TO  HAMILTON  —  LONG  LETTER  OF  HAMILTON  TO  BAYABD — 
HAMILTON  TO  MORRIS  AGAIN  —  THE  ELECTION  IN  THE  HOUSE — SCENE  BETWEEN 
JEFFERSON  AND  ADAMS  — PROOF  OF  BURR'S  POLITICAL  INTEGRITY  — THB  INATT&IT- 

RATION 262 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

THE    VICE-PRESIDENT. 

*m  OFFICE  CF  VIOE-PRERIDKNT — MARRIAGE  OF  THKODOSIA  —  HER  SON  —  BURR'S 
DELIGHT  IN  HIM  — His  STYLE  OF  LIVING  — His  COURTSHIP  OF  CELESTE  — His 
POPULARITY  AND  GENERAL  GOOD  FORTUNE ....  „. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 


CLOUDS    GATHER. 

PAOV 
"HE  GREAT  EBBOB  OF  BUBB'S   PUBLIC   LIFE— DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  SPOILS  — 

CHEETHAM  AND  THE  AMERICAN  CITIZEN  —  BURR'S  COURSE  ON  THE  JUDICIARY 
BILL— THE  SUPPBESSED  HISTORY  OF  ADAMS'S  ADMINISTRATION  — HAMILTON'S 
MORBID  APPREHENSIONS —  BURB  AT  THE  WASHINGTON  BANQUET  —  HAMILTON'S 
NEW  TACTICS  —  CHEETHAM'B  CALUMNIES  —  THEIB  REFUTATION  —  THE  WAB  OF 
PAMPHLETS  AND  NEWSPAPERS  — DUELING  THEN  —  HAMILTON'S  ELDEST  SON  FALLS 
IN  A  DUEL  —  DUEL  BETWEEN  JOHN  SWARTWOUT  AND  DE  WITT  CLINTON  —  Ro- 
BEBT  SWARTWOUT  AND  EICHARD  HIKER'S  DUEL  —  DUEL  BETWEEN  COLEMAN  AND 
CAPTAIN  THOMPSON— BUBB  RUNS  FOB  GOVEBNOB  OF  NEW  YOBK  —  THE  CONTEST 
— BUBB  DEFEATED...  80fl 


CHAPTER    XIX. 


THE    DUEL. 
Ttnt  GENERAL   PBOVOOATION  —  THE   PARTICULAR  PROVOCATION  —  THE   HOSTILB 

COBBESPONDENCE  — THE  CHALLENGE  GlVEN  AND  ACCEPTED  —  HAMILTON'S  CON 
DUCT,  AND  BUBB'S  LETTERS  BEFORE  THE  MEETING  —  THE  BANQUET  OF  THE 
CINCINNATI  —  THE  LAST  WRITINGS  OF  HAMILTON  AND  BURR  —  THE  DUELING 
GBOUND— THE  DUEL  — EFFECT  ON  THE  PUBLIC  MIND  — THE  CORONEB'B  VKB- 
WOT  —  DR.  No rr's  SXBHON—  FHK  MONUMENT  TO  HAMILTON  ON  THK  G BOUND  ,  338 


CONTENTS    OF    APPENDIX. 


I. 

T ouira  BUBB  AMONG  THE  GIRLS  nr  CONNECTICUT 


n. 

ONE  OF  AAEON  Bran's  COLLEGE  COMPOSITIONS 869 

m. 

BUEH  AND  CHESTERFIELD 873 

IV. 

THE  BOOT  or  GENERAL  MONTGOMERY .......874 

V. 

ARNOLD'S  EXPEDITION  TO  QUEBEC 875 

VI. 

PROM  THE  COBBESPONDENOH  BETWEEN  AAEON  BUBB  AND  HI3  WlFl..., 800 

vn. 

FROM  THE   CORRESPONDENCE  BETWEEN  AARON  BUBB  AND  HIS  DAUGHTEB  THEOD081A . . 409 

vm. 

ANIODOTB  or  THEODOSIA 429 

IX. 

RICHMOND  HILL  AND  OLD  NEW  YORK 491 


TH»  BUOTION  OF  1800. 


XI. 

THB  ELECTION  ov  JEFFERSON  AND  DCRB.,..,. ,.......».  v**^«»*.-^. ...... .U3 


CHAPTER  I. 

JONATHAN   EDWARDS, 

THE  PATHEB  OF  AARON  BURR'S  MOTHER. 

ftiS  Basra  KNOB  IN  NEW  YOBK  IN  1722  —  SKETCH  OP  HIS  CABEEE —  His  WIFE  AH* 
DAUGHTERS — ESTHEB  EDWARDS —  THE  EDWARDS  STOCK — INFLUENCE  OF  JONATHAN 
EDWABDS. 

IN  the  autumn  of  1722,  when  New  York  was  a  town  of 
eight  thousand  inhabitants,  and  possessed  some  of  the  charac 
teristics  of  a  Dutch  city,  an  English  sea-port,  a  new  settlement, 
a  garrisoned  town,  and  a  vice-royal  residence,  there  used  to 
walk  about  its  narrow,  winding  streets,  among  the  crowd  of 
Dutch  traders,  English  merchants,  Indians,  officers  and  sol 
diers,  a  young  man  whose  appearance  was  in  marked  contrast 
with  that  of  the  passers-by.  His  tall,  slender,  slightly  stoop 
ing  figure,  was  clad  in  homespun  parson's  gray.  His  face,  very 
pale,  and  somewhat  wasted,  wore  an  aspect  of  singular  refine 
ment,  and  though  but  nineteen  years  of  age,  there  was  in  his 
air  and  manner  the  dignity  of  the  mature  and  cultivated  man. 

This  was  JONATHAN  EDWARDS,  who  had  just  come  from 
studying  divinity  at  Yale  College,  to  preach  to  a  small  con 
gregation  of  Presbyterians  in  the  city.  New  York  had  an  ill 
name  at  that  time  among  the  good  people  of  New  England. 
"The  Dutch  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey,"  said  one  of 
them,  "are  little  better  than  the  savages  of  our  American 
deserts."  Jonathan  Edwards  was  sent  by  a  company  of 
clergymen  to  this  desperate  place  much  in  the  spirit  of  those 
who,  at  the  present  day,  send  missionaries  to  Oregon  or  to 
the  mining  districts  of  California. 

Every  thing  was  adverse  to  the  spread  of  his  faith  at  that 
time  in  New  York,  and  the  young  clergyman,  after  a  residence 
»f  only  a  few  months,  went  home  to  resume  his  studies.  Dearl  y 


26  LIFE     OF     AAEON    BUEE. 

loved  and  highly  prized  by  some  members  of  his  little  con£re» 
gation  in  New  York  he  certainly  was ;  but  there  is  no  reason 
to  suppose  that  the  preaching  of  the  greatest  of  American 
clergymen  attracted  the  slightest  attention  from  the  unintel 
lectual  citizens  of  the  place.  Yet  a  happier,  a  more  exultant 
youth,  never  trod  the  shores  of  this  island  than  Jonathan 
Edwards.  He  had  grasped  the  tenets  of  his  sect  not  with  the 
languid  assent  with  which  an  inherited  creed  is  frequently  re 
ceived,  but  with  that  eager,  enthusiastic  love  which  accompanies 
original  conceptions.  To  him  they  were  the  most  real  of  all 
realities.  His  manner  was  very  calm  and  gentle.  He  spoke 
little,  and  kept  apart  from  the  busy  life  of  the  city.  But  the 
light  of  perfect  benevolence  and  rapt-devotion  rested  upon  his 
noble,  thought-laden  countenance,  and  a  profound  enthusiasm 
animated  his  heart. 

Of  his  life  in  New  York,  he  writes  in  after  years  a  brief 
account,  which  still  exists  to  reveal  to  a  canting  age  a  soul 
devoted  to  the  object  of  its  love.  How  touching  is  this 
extract : — "  If  I  heard  the  least  hint  of  any  thing  that  hap 
pened  in  any  part  of  the  world  that  appeared,  in  some  re 
spect  or  other,  to  have  a  favorable  aspect  on  the  interests  of 
Christ's  kingdom,  my  soul  eagerly  catched  at  it ;  and  it  would 
much  animate  and  refresh  me.  I  used  to  be  eager  to  read  pub 
lic  news-letters^  mainly  for  that  end  ;  to  see  if  I  could  notfina 
some  news,  favorable  to  the  interest  of  religion  in  the  world. 
I  very  frequently  used  to  retire  into  a  solitary  place,  on  the 
banks  of  Hudson's  river,  at  some  distance  from  the  city,  for 
contemplation  on  divine  things  and  secret  converse  with  God ; 
and  had  many  sweet  hours  there.  Sometimes  Mr.  Smith  and 
I  walked  there  together,  to  converse  on  the  things  of  God : 
and  our  conversation  used  to  turn  much  on  the  advancement 
<)f  Christ's  kingdom  in  the  world,  and  the  glorious  things  that 
God  would  accomplish  for  his  church  in  the  latter  days.  I 
iiad  then,  and  at  other  times,  the  greatest  delight  in  the  holy 
Scriptures,  of  any  book  whatsoever.  Oftentimes  in  reading 
>t,  every  word  seemed  to  touch  my  heart.  I  felt  a  harmony 
between  something  in  my  heart  and  those  sweet  and  powerful 
vords.  I  seemed  often  to  see  so  much  light  exhibited  by 


JONATHAN     EDWARDS.  2* 

every  sentence,  and  such  a  refreshing  food  communicated, 
that  I  could  not  get  along  in  reading ;  often  dwelling  long  on 
one  sentence,  to  see  the  wonders  contained  in  it ;  and  yet  al 
most  every  sentence  seemed  to  be  full  of  wonders." 

Through  the  obsolete  phraseology  of  this  passage,  one  easily 
discerns  a  fine  disinterestedness  of  character  which,  unless  the 
human  race  should  become  wholly  debased,  can  never  become 
obsolete. 

The  industry  of  one  of  his  descendants  has  given  the  world 
a  biography  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  which  possesses  historical 
interest.*  Of  the  religion  called  "  evangelical,"  he  was  per 
haps,  the  most  perfect  exemplification  that  ever  existed.  The 
child  was  father  of  the  man.  We  see  him,  as  a  boy  of 
ten,  building  a  booth  in  a  swamp  near  his  father's  house,  to 
which  he  and  two  of  his  companions  used  to  go  regularly  to 
pray.  In  his  eleventh  year,  we  read  of  his  demonstrating,  with 
a  kind  of  solemn  jocularity,  the  absurdity  of  an  opinion  which 
had  been  advanced  by  a  boy  of  his  own  age,  that  the  soul 
was  material,  and  remained  in  the  grave  with  the  body  till 
the  resurrection.  At  twelve,  we  find  him  beginning  a  letter 
to  one  of  his  sisters  thus  :  "  Through  the  wonderful  goodness 
and  mercy  of  God,  there  has  been  in  this  place  a  very  re 
markable  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  of  God."  He  proceeds  to 
inform  his  sister  that  he  "  has  reason  to  think  it  is  in  some  meas 
ure  diminished,  but  he  hopes  not  much,  and  that  above  thirty 
persons  came  commonly  a  Mondays  to  converse  with  father 
about  their  souls."  At  the  same  time,  he  exhibited  in  things 
not  religious,  an  intelligence  truly  remarkable.  He  wrote,  in  his 
\welfth  year,  an  elaborate  description  of  "  the  wondrous  way  of 
vhe  working  of  the  forest  spider,"  which  shows  that  he  possessed 
a  rare  talent  for  the  observation  of  nature.  One  of  the  great 
est  of  natural  philosophers  was  lost  to  the  world  when  Jon- 
ithan  Edwards  became  a  theologian. 

At  thirteen,  he  was  one  of  the  thirty-one  students  who,  in 
1716,  composed  Yale  College,  and  there  occurred  the  events 
which  decided  his  career.  "  Toward  the  latter  part  of  my 

*  The  life  of  President  Edwards.— S.  B.  Dwight  New  York  :  G.  4  0.  I 
BL  Carvii;  1830. 


28  LIFE     OF     AAkON    BURR. 

time  at  college,"  he  wrote,  "it  pleased  God  to  seize  me  Tnth 
a  pleurisy,  in  which  he  brought  me  nigh  to  the  grave,  and 
shook  me  over  the  pit  of  hell."  Alarmed,  the  exemplary  youth 
"  made  seeking  his  salvation  the  main  business  of  his  life" — 
with  the  usual  evangelical  result.  The  other  event  was,  for  his 
country  and  the  Protestant  world,  far  more  important.  It 
was  his  reception  of  what  theologians  call  the  doctrine  of 
election. 

From  his  childhood  up,  as  he  himself  records,  his  ingenuous 
mind  had  revolted  from  the  idea  of  "  God's  choosing  whom 
he  would  to  eternal  life,  and  rejecting  whom  he  pleased,  leav 
ing  them  eternally  to  perish  and  be  everlastingly  tormented  in 
hell."  But  the  time  came  when  he  thought  he  believed  this 
doctrine.  He  could  not  tell  how  nor  why.  On  a  sudden,  con 
viction  flashed  upon  his  mind,  and  what  had  once  seemed  a 
horribie  doctrine,  he  contemplated  with  delight.  Henceforth, 
the  leisure  of  his  life,  and  the  best  efforts  of  his  intellect,  were 
devoted  to  its  elucidation.  His  treatise  on  the  "  Freedom  of 
the  Will,"  by  which  he  is  chiefly  known  to  the  recent  world,  is 
an  ingenious  attempt  to  make  that  reasonable,  which,  not 
through  his  reason,  he  had  himself  received.  To  reconcile  the 
orthodox  tenets  with  the  facts  of  nature  and  the  reason  of 
man  is  the  task  at  which  the  brain  of  New  England  grew 
large  and  the  chest  narrow.  Of  those  who  have  lived  and 
died  in  that  vocation,  the  greatest  and  the  best  was  Jonathan 
Edwards. 

Nobler  than  any  of  his  works  was  the  life  of  this  good  man. 
He  was  one  of  those  who  have  deliberately  incurred  obloquy 
and  ruin  for  conscience'  sake. 

After  leaving  New  York,  he  was  a  tutor  in  Yale  College  for 
a  year  or  two,  and  was  then  chosen  pastor  of  the  church  at 
Northampton.  There,  his  preaching  produced  effects  that 
have  never  been  surpassed.  His  church  became  the  largest 
Protestant  society  in  the  world.  He  stood  at  the  head  of  the 
clerical  profession  in  New  England.  The  "  great  awakening," 
of  which  so  much  appears  in  the  writings  of  that  day,  began 
n  his  church  at  Northampton,  and  extended  to  the  remotest 
Colony  in  America,  to  England,  and  to  Scotland.  He  was  th« 


JONATHAN    EDWAEDS.  29 

first  American  author  who  achieved  a  European  reputation  • 
while  he  was  yet  a  young  man,  sermons  and  volumes  of  hia 
were  republished  in  Great  Britain  and  widely  circulated.  At 
home,  wherever  he  preached,  crowds  hung  upon  the  lips  of 
the  great  Mr.  Edwards  of  Northampton. 

For  twenty-three  years  he  held  this  unequaled  position,  a  v- 
ihining  light  in  the  Protestant  world,  and  dear  to  the  pride  of 
iris  own  congregation.  Then  there  arose  a  dispute  between 
pastor  and  flock,  whether  saints  and  sinners  were  equally  en 
titled  to  partake  of  the  sacrament,  or  saints  only.  The  pastor 
was  for  excluding,  the  flock  for  admitting,  sinners.  The  peo 
ple  appealed  to  the  established  custom  of  the  parish  ;  the 
pastor,  to  the  spirit  and  letter  of  the  authoritative  writings. 
The  people  grew  warm,  refused  their  minister  a  hearing  on 
the  point  in  dispute,  and  clamored  for  his  dismissal.  He  was 
dismissed.  Himself,  his  wife,  his  ten  children,  were  suddenly 
deprived  of  the  means  of  living,  and  in  circumstances  that 
made  it  unlikely  that  he  would  be  again  able  to  practice  his 
profession. 

That  a  company  of  Christian  people,  after  having  had  for 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  best  instructions  in  the  prin 
ciples  of  their  faith  that  any  congregation  ever  had,  and  that 
instruction  enforced  by  a  perfect  example,  should  have  been 
able  thus  to  reward  their  religious  teacher,  is  a  fact,  which 
those  who  are  curious  in  moral  causes  and  effects  will  always 
deem  worthy  of  consideration. 

On  this  trying  occasion,  Jonathan  Edwards  honored  human 
nature  by  the  quiet  dignity^  and  grand  forbearance  of  his 
conduct.  He  accepted  soon  the  humble  post  of  missionary  to 
the  Indians  of  Stockbridge,  and  labored  there,  this  a^lssLof 
viving  preachers  and  theologians,  with  no  less  zeal  and  devo- 
t"o:i  than  he  had  sh<> \vn  in  his  prime  of  popularity,  ]  h  >re,  in 
the  space  of  four  months  and  a  half,  he  wrote  his  treatise  on 
,he  Will,  which  is  the  Principia  of  Calvinistic  theology.  He 
wrote  it  when  he  was  so  embarrassed  that  he  procured  with 
difficulty  the  necessary  paper,  and  parts  of  the  work,  like 
Pope's  Homer,  were  written  on  the  backs  of  letters  and  the 
Mank  pages  of  pamphlets.  His  wife,  a  lady  magnificently  en- 


80  LIFE     OP     AAKON    BTJBB. 

dowed  in  person  and  mind,  his  daughters,  oeautiful  and  full  of 
talent,  m^de  lace  and  painted  fans,  which  were  sent  to  Boston 
for  sale. 

ESTHER,  the  third  of  these  lovely,  industrious  daughters, 
was  already  eighteen  years  of  age  when  the  family  removed 
to  Stockbridge.  Two  years  after,  came  to  her  home,  on  the 
edge  of  the  wilderness,  one  of  the  most  renowned  and  bril 
liant  members  of  her  father's  profession.  He  stood  over  her, 
or  sat  near  her,  one  may  fancy,  as  she  wove  her  lace  or  painted 
her  fan-paper.  He  had  an  eye  for  a  lady's  hand,  this  ciergy 
man.  He  was  not  one  of  those  grim-looking  persons  whose 
portraits  form  the  hideous  frontispieces  to  the  religious  books 
of  that  period,  but  a  gentleman  whose  style  and  manner 
would  have  graced  a  court.  He  staid  only  three  days  at 
stockbridge,  but  after  his  departure  the  young  maiden  made 
no  more  lace  and  painted  no  more  fans  for  the  Boston  ladies. 
Such,  at  least,  was  the  gossip  of  the  time,  as  one  reads  in  let 
ters  which  chance  has  preserved  for  the  perusal  of  a  prying 
biographer. 

The  Edwards  stock  is  famous  in  New  England.  The  re 
motest  known  ancestor  of  the  race  was  a  London  clergyman 
in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  Three  generations  of  wor 
thy,  substantial  persons,  his  descendants,  lived  in  Connecticut. 
From  Jonathan  Edwards  a  surprising  number  of  distinguished 
individuals  have  descended ;  men  of  worth,  talent,  and  sta 
tion  :  women,  beautiful,  accomplished,  and  gifted.  Histories 
of  the  United  States  have  been  written  in  which  his  name 
does  not  occur ;  but  upon  every  person  reared  since  his  day 
in  New  England  he  has  made  a  discernible  impression,  and  he 
influences,  to  this  hour,  millions  who  never  heard  his  name. 
The  thing  he  chiefly  did  in  his  life  was  this :  the  church  and 
the  world,  two  hostile  bodies,  were  beginning,  as  it  were,  to 
relent  toward  one  another,  to  approach,  to  mingle.  Jonathan 
Edwards,  with  his  subtle,  feminine  intellect  and  resolute  will, 
threw  himself  between  the  two  bodies,  kept  them  apart,  made 
more  distinct  than  ever  the  line  of  demarcation,  and  rendered 
ompromise  between  the  two,  perhaps,  for  ever  impossible. 

Such  a  man  was  the  father  of  Aaron  Burr's  mother. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  REVEREND  AARON  BURR, 

FATHEE    OP    AAEON    BUEE. 

OP    HI8   BABLY    HlSTOET— PASTOR  OF    NEWABK    CHUBOH— A   GlSEAT 

MASTEB—  PBESIDENT  OF  PBINOETON  COLLEGE— THB  FIEST  COMMENCEMENT— StrDDM 
MARRTA.GE  OF  THB  PRESIDENT— His  WETTINGS— His  POETEAIT. 

THE  Reverend  Aaron  Burr  was  a  conspicuous  and  important 
person  in  his  day. 

He  came  of  a  Puritan  family  which  may  have  originated  in 
Germany,  where  the  name  is  still  common,  but  which  had 
flourished  in  New  England  for  three  generations,  and  had 
given  to  those  provinces  clergymen,  lawyers,  and  civilians  of 
some  eminence.  He  was  born  at  Fairfield,  in  Connecticut,  in 
1716,  and  graduated  at  Yale,  with  great  distinction,  in  his  nine 
teenth  year.  His  proficiency  in  Latin  and  Greek  enabled  him 
to  win  one  of  the  three  Berkley  scholarships,  which  entitled  the 
possessor  to  a  maintenance  at  college  for  two  years  after  grad 
uating.  While  he  was  pursuing  his  studies  upon  that  endow- 
unent,  he  was  arrested,  as  college  students  frequently  were  in 
those  days,  by  a  c  revival  of  religion.'  He  became  a  convert  and 
a  student  of  theology.  "  His  human  literature,"  to  use  the 
figure  of  one  of  his  eulogists,  "  was  thenceforward  an  obsequi 
ous  handmaid,  ever  ready  to  set  off  and  embellish  his  mistress, 
Divinity." 

An  account  of  his  conversion,  in  his  own  words,  has  been  pre 
served.  It  is  remarkable,  among  other  narratives  of  the  kind 
for  its  concise  exactness  of  expression.  "  This  year,"  he  says 
"  God  saw  fit  to  open  my  eyes  and  show  me  what  a  miserable 
creature  I  was.  Till  then  I  had  spent  my  life  in  a  dream,  and 
as  to  the  great  design  of  my  being,  had  lived  in  vain.  Though 
before,  I  had  been  under  frequent  convictions,  and  was  driven 


32  LIPEOFAABONBTJEE. 

to  a  form  of  religion,  yet  I  knew  nothing  as  I  ought  to  know 
But  then  I  was  brought  to  the  footstool  of  sovereign  grace, 
saw  myself  polluted  by  nature  and  practice,  had  affecting  views 
of  the  divine  wrath  I  deserved,  was  made  to  despair  of  help 
in  myself,  and  almost  concluded  that  my  day  of  grace  waa 
past.  It  pleased  God  at  length  to  reveal  his  Son  to  me  in  the 
gospel  as  an  all-sufficient  Saviour,  and  I  hope  inclined  me  to 
receive  him  on  the  terms  of  the  gospel."  Here  is  the  whole 
body  of  Calvinistic  divinity  in  a  paragraph. 

At  the  early  age  of  twenty-two  he  was  the  settled  and  pop- 
ular  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church  in  Newark,  New  Jer 
sey.  Great  'revivals'  followed  his  preaching.  The  placid  but 
commanding  eloquence  of  which  he  was,  thus  early  in  his 
career,  a  finished  master,  was,  by  many,  more  admired  than 
the  torrent-like  vehemence  of  Whitefield,  or  the  subtle  argu 
mentation  of  Edwards.  We  have  a  description  of  his  mode 
of  preaching  from  the  pen  of  Governor  Livingston  of  New 
Jersey,  his  friend  in  life,  his  eloquent  eulogist  after  his  death. 
"  He  was  none  of  those  downy  doctors,"  said  the  governor, 
"  who  soothe  their  hearers  into  delusive  hope  of  divine  accept 
ance,  or  substitute  external  morality  in  the  room  of  vital  godli 
ness.  On  the  contrary,  he  scorned  to  proclaim  the  peace  of 
God  till  the  rebel  laid  down  his  arms,  and  returned  to  his  al 
legiance.  He  was  an  embassador  that  adhered  faithfully  to 
his  instructions,  and  never  acceded  to  a  treaty  that  would  not 
be  ratified  in  the  court  of  heaven.  He  searched  the  conscience 
with  the  terrors  of  the  law  before  he  assuaged  its  anguish 
with  the  balm  of  Gilead,  or  presented  the  sweet  emollients  of 
a  bleeding  deity.  He  acted,  in  short,  like  one,  not  intrustet 
with  the  lives  and  fortunes,  but  the  everlasting  interests  of  hi 
fellow  mortals." 

It  was  customary  at  that  time  for  clergymen  to  receive  pu 
pils  for  instruction  in  the  classical  languages.  Mr.  Burr's  rep 
utation  for  eloquence  and  learning  brought  him  so  many  boys 
that  his  private  class  grew  rapidly  into  an  important  school. 
He  kept  ushers.  He  wrote  a  Latin  grammar  for  the  use  of 
his  pupils,  which,  under  the  name  of  the  "  Newark  Grammar, 
was  long  the  standard  at  Priiiceton.  His  success  in  teaching 


REVEREND     AARON    BURR.  33 

was  memorable.  He  possessed  not  only  a  happy  method  of 
giving  instruction,  but  he  had  the  rarer  and  higher  art  of  in 
fusing  into  his  pupils  his  own  enthusiastic  love  of  learning  and 
literature.  He  was  an  admirable  teacher,  jocund  and  winning, 
without  losing  or  lessening  his  dignity  or  his  authority. 

To  his  labors  as  pastor,  schoolmaster,  and  author,  were 
afterward  added  those  of  the  President  of  the  College  of  New 
Jersey,  an  infant  institution  which  his  toil  and  tact  fostered  to 
a  healthy  and  vigorous  growth.  An  article  in  an  old  news 
paper,*  published  when  George  the  Second  was  king,  enables 
us  to  see  this  excellent,  indefatigable  man  on  that  triumphant 
day  of  his  life  when  the  college  conferred  its  first  degree,  in 
the  presence  of  the  governor  of  the  province,  and  a  great  con 
course  of  people.  With  amusing  particularity  the  writer  nar 
rates  the  august  ceremonies  of  the  day : 

"  His  excellency  (the  governor)  was  preceded  from  his 
lodgings  at  the  president's  house,  first,  by  the  candidates 
walking  in  couples,  uncovered;  next  followed  the  trustees, 
two  and  two,  being  covered ;  and,  last  of  all,  his  excellency, 
the  governor,  with  the  president  at  his  left  hand.  At  the 
door  of  the  place  appointed  for  the  public  acts,  the  procession 
(amid  a  great  number  of  spectators  there  gathered)  was  in 
verted,  the  candidates  parting  to  the  right  and  left  hand,  and 
the  trustees  in  like  manner.  His  excellency  first  entered  with 
the  president,  the  trustees  went  following  in  the  order  in 
which  they  were  ranged  in  the  charter,  and,  last  of  all,  the 
candidates. 

"  Upon  the  bell  ceasing,  and  the  assembly  being  composed, 
the  president  began  the  public  acts  by  solemn  prayer  to  God, 
in  the  English  tongue,  for  a  blessing  upon  the  public  transac 
tions  of  the  day ;  upon  his  majesty,  King  George  the  Second, 
and  the  royal  family ;  upon  the  British  nation  and  dominions ; 
upon  the  governor  and  government  of  New  Jersey ;  upon  all 
seminaries  of  true  religion  and  good  literature,  and  particularly 
upon  the  infant  College  of  New  Jersey.  Which  being  con- 
eluded,  the  president,  attended  in  the  pulpit  by  the  Rev, 
Thomas  Arthur,  who  had  been  constituted  clerk  of  the  cor 
*  Pennsylvania  Journal,  December  3th,  1748. 
2* 


34  LIFE     OF     AAROX     BURR. 

poration,  desired,  in  the  English  tongue,  the  assembly  to  stand 
up  and  hearken  to  his  majesty's  royal  charter,  granted  to  the 
trustees  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey.  Upon  which,  the  as 
sembly  standing,  the  charter  was  distinctly  read  by  the  Rev 
Mr.  Arthur,  with  the  usual  endorsement  by  his  majesty's  at 
torney-general,  and  the  certificate,  signed  by  the  secretary  of 
the  province,  of  its  having  been  approved  in  council  with  hig 
excellency.  After  this,  the  morning  being  spent,  the  presi 
dent  signified  to  the  assembly  that  the  succeeding  acts  would 
be  deferred  till  two  in  the  afternoon.  Then  the  procession,  in 
returning  to  the  president's  house,  was  made  in  the  order  be 
fore  observed. 

"  The  like  procession  was  made  in  the  afternoon  as  in  the 
morning,  and  the  assembly  being  seated  in  their  places  and 
composed,  the  president  opened  the  public  acts,  first,  by  an 
elegant  oration  in  the  Latin  tongue,  delivered  memoriter, 
modestly  declaring  his  unworthiness  and  unfitness  for  so 
weighty  a  trust  as  had  been  reposed  in  him ;  apologizing  for 
the  defects  that  would  unavoidably  appear  in  his  part  of  the 
present  service ;  displaying  the  manifold  advantages  of  the 
liberal  arts  and  sciences  in  exalting  and  dignifying  the  human 
nature,  enlarging  the  soul,  improving  the  faculties,  civilizing 
mankind,  qualifying  them  for  the  important  offices  of  life,  and 
rendering  men  useful  members  of  church  and  state.  That  to 
learning  and  the  arts  was  chiefly  owing  the  vast  preeminence 
of  the  polished  nations  of  Europe  to  the  almost  brutish  sav 
ages  in  America,  the  sight  of  which  last  was  the  constant  ob 
ject  of  horror  and  commiseration. 

"  Then  the  president  proceeded  to  mention  the  honor  paid 
by  our  ancestors  in  Great  Britain  to  the  liberal  sciences,  by 
erecting  and  endowing  those  illustrious  seminaries  of  learning 
vhich  for  many  ages  had  been  the  honor  and  ornament  of 
.hose  happy  isles,  and  the  source  of  infinite  advantages  to  the 
people  there,  observing  that  the  same  noble  spirit  had  ani 
mated  their  descendants,  the  first  planters  of  America,  who, 
as  soon  as  they  were  formed  into  a  State,  in  the  very  infancy 
of  time,  had  wisely  laid  religion  and  learning  at  the  founda 
iion  of  their  commonwealth,  and  had  always  regarded  them 


REVEREND     AAtCON     BURR.  85 

us  the  firmest  pillars  of  their  church  and  State.  That  hence, 
very  early,  arose  Harvard  College,  in  New  Cambridge,  and 
afterward,  Yale  College,  in  New  Haven,  which  "have  had  a 
growing  reputation  for  many  years,  and  have  sent  forth  many 
hundreds  of  learned  men  of  various  stations  and  characters  in 
life,  that  in  different  periods  have  proved  the  honor  and  orna 
ment  of  their  country,  and  of  which  the  one  or  the  other  had 
>een  the  alma  mater  of  most  of  the  literati  then  present. 

"That  learning,  like  the  sun  in  its  western  progress,  Lad 
now  begun  to  dawn  upon  the  province  of  New  Jersey,  through 
the  happy  influence  of  its  generous  patron,  their  most  excel 
lent  governor. 

"These,  and  many  other  particulars,  having,  more  oratoria, 
taken  up  three  quarters  of  an  hour,  and  the  Thesis  being  dis 
persed  among  the  learned  in  the  assembly,  the  candidates,  by 
command  of  the  president,  entered  upon  the  public  dispu 
tation,  in  Latin,  in  which  six  questions  in  philosophy  and  theol 
ogy  were  debated,  one  of  which  was,  whether  the  liberty  of 
acting  according  to  the  dictates  of  conscience  in  matters 
merely  religious,  ought  to  be  restrained  by  any  human  power? 
And  it  was  justly  held  and  concluded  that  liberty  ought  not  to 
be  restrained. 

"  Then  the  president,  addressing  himself  to  the  trustees,  in 
Latin,  asked  whether  it  was  their  pleasure  that  these  young 
men  who  had  performed  the  public  exercises  in  disputation 
should  be  admitted  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  the  Arts  ? 
Which  being  granted  by  his  excellency  in  the  name  of  all  the 
trustees  present,  the  president  descended  from  the  pulpit,  an£ 
being  seated  with  his  head  covered,  received  them  two  by 
two,  and,  according  to  the  authority  to  him  committed  by  the 
royal  charter,  after  the  manner  of  the  academies  in  England, 
admitted  his  young  scholars  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  the 
Arts. 

"  In  the  next  place,  his  excellency,  Jonathan  Belcher,  Esq. 
governor  and  commander-in-chief  of  the  province  of  New 
Jersey,  having  declared  his  desire  to  accept  from  that  college 
the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  the  other  trustees,  in  a  just 
sense  of  the  honor  done  tne  college  by  his  excellency's  conde- 


16  LIFE     CF     AARON     BURR. 

sceiision,  most  heartily  having  granted  his  request,  the  presi. 
dent,  rising  uncovered,  addressed  himself  to  his  excellency 
and  according  to  the  same  authority  committed  to  him  by  the 
royal  charter,  after  the  manner  of  the  academies  of  England, 
admitted  him  to  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts. 

"  Then  the  president  ascended  the  pulpit,  and  commanded 
the  orator  salutatorius  to  ascend  the  rostrum,  who,  being  Mr 
Samuel  Thane,  just  before  graduated  Bachelor  of  the  Arts,  he 
in  a  modest  and  decent  manner,  first  apologizing  for  his  in 
sufficiency,  and  then  having  spoken  of  the  excellency  of  the 
liberal  arts  and  sciences  and  of  the  numberless  benefits  they 
yielded  to  mankind  in  private  and  social  life,  addressed  him- 
self  in  becoming  salutations  and  thanks  to  his  excellency  and 
the  trustees,  the  president,  and  the  whole  assembly,  all  which 
being  performed  in  good  Latin,  from  his  memory,  in  a  hand 
some  oratorical  manner,  in  the  space  of  about  half  an  hour, 
the  president  concluded  in  English,  with  thanksgiving  to 
heaven  and  prayer  to  God  for  a  blessing  on  the  scholars  that 
had  received  the  public  honors  of  the  day,  and  for  the  smiles 
of  Heaven  upon  the  infant  College  of  New  Jersey,  and  dis 
missed  the  assembly. 

"  All  which  being  performed  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  all 
present,  his  excellency,  with  the  trustees  and  scholars,  re 
turned  to  the  house  of  the  president  in  the  order  observed  in 
the  morning,  where,  after  sundry  by-laws  were  made,  chiefly 
for  regulating  the  studies  and  manners  of  the  students,  they 
agreed  upon  a  corporation  seal." 

The  president  was  only  thirty-two  years  of  age  when  these 
scenes  transpired.  He  was  a  man  small  of  stature,  very  hand- 
gome,  with  clear,  dark  eyes  of  a  soft  luster,  quite  unlike  the 
piercing  orbs  of  his  son;  a  figure  compactly  formed,  but 
somewhat  slender,  and  with  the  bearing  of  a  prince.  The 
fascinating  manner  and  lofty  style  of  Mr.  President  Burr  are 
frequently  mentioned  in  the  letters  of  the  period.  On  this 
great  occasion  we  can  well  believe  that  there  was  an  impress 
ive  charm  in  his  movements  and  delivery. 

For  eight  years  after  his  election  to  the  presidency,  he 
retained  his  church  and  his  school,  and  traveled  far  and  widt 


BEVEBEND     AABON     BTJBB.  8? 

in  collecting  funds  for  the  college,  and  promoting  lotteries  foi 
its  benefit.  And  such  were  his  talents  for  the  dispatch  of 
business  that,  while  both  the  school  and  the  church  continued 
vo  prosper,  the  college  increased  in  ten  years  from  eight  stu 
dents  to  ninety ;  and  from  being  an  institution  without  house, 
land,  endowment,  or  reputation,  to  one  having  all  these  in 
sufficiency. 

A  file  of  letters  from  one  of  Mr.  Burr's  pupils  to  his  father, 
preserved  by  a  happy  chance  among  the  papers  of  an  old 
Philadelphia  family,  afford  us,  at  this  distance  of  time,  an 
insight  into  the  very  class-room  of  the  president.  The  be 
loved,  the  zealous,  the  enlightened  teacher  is  exhibited  in 
these  letters.  A  single  fact  revealed  in  them  is  enough  to 
prove  him  a  superior  and  a  catholic  mind.  And  that  fact  is, 
that  though  the  president  was,  perhaps,  the  first  classical 
scholar  in  the  provinces,  he  was  also  warmly  interested  in 
natural  science,  and  eager  to  interest  the  students  in  it.  He 
taught  them  himself  how  to  calculate  eclipses.  On  one  occa 
sion,  when,  after  a  long  negotiation,  he  had  induced  a  lecturer 
by  the  offer  of  forty  pounds,  to  come  from  Philadelphia  and 
eribit  his  philosophical  apparatus,  all  other  studies  were  laid 
aside  for  some  weeks  before  the  philosopher's  arrival,  in  order 
that  the  students  might  derive  the  greatest  possible  advantage 
from  witnessing  the  experiments.  The  lecturer,  it  appears, 
excited  so  much  interest  in  "  the  newly-discovered  fluid  called 
electricity,"  that  some  of  the  students  set  about  making  small 
electrical  machines. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  cheerfal  and  wise  activity  occurred 
an  event  in  Mr.  Burr's  history  which  gave  the  gossips  of  the 
province  employment  enough.  Until  his  thirty-seventh  year 
the  president  shamed  the  ladies  of  New  Jersey  by  living  a 
bachelor.  In  the  summer  of  1752,  to  the  surprise  of  every 
one,  and  in  a  manner  the  most  extraordinary,  he  wooed  and 
Bedded  the  lovely  and  vivacious  Esther  Edwards.  Some 
Dints  of  the  oddity  of  this  affair,  which  appeared  in  the  New 
York  Gazette  for  the  20th  of  July,  1752,  the  letters  of  the 
young  gentleman  just  referred  to  enable  us  to  explain.  The 
writer  in  the  Gazette,  after  mentioning  the  marriage,  with  du« 


38  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BURR. 

praise  of  the  wedded  pair,  remarked  that  he  supposod  there 
had  not  been  for  some  centuries  a  courtship  more  in  the 
patriarchal  mode,  and  jocosely  advised  young  gentlemen  to 
follow  the  president's  example,  and  endeavor  to  restore 
courtship  and  marriage  to  their  original  simplicity  and  design^ 

The  young  letter-writer's  version  of  the  story  is  the  follow 
ing  :  "  In  the  latter  end  of  May  the  president  took  a  journey 
into  New  England,  and  during  his  absence  he  made  a  visit  of 
but  three  days  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Edwards's  daughter  at  Stock* 
bridge ;  in  which  short  time,  though  he  had  no  acquaintance 
with,  nor  had  ever  seen,  the  lady  these  six  years,  I  suppose  he 
accomplished  his  whole  design ;  for  it  was  not  above  a  fort 
night  after  his  return  here,  before  he  sent  a  young  fellow 
(who  came  out  of  college  last  fall)  into  New  England  to  con 
duct  her  and  her  mother  down  here.  They  came  to  town  on 
Saturday  evening,  the  27th  ult.,  and  on  the  Monday  evening 
following  the  nuptial  ceremonies  were  celebrated  between  Mr 
Burr  and  the  young  lady.  As  I  have  yet  no  manner  of  ac 
quaintance  with  her,  I  can  not  describe  to  you  her  qualifica 
tions  and  properties.  However,  they  say  she  is  a  very  valuabL 
lady,  I  think  her  a  person  of  great  beauty ;  though  I  must 
say  she  is  rather  too  young  (being  twenty-one  years  of  age) 
for  the  president.  This  account  you  will  doubtless  communi 
cate  to  mammy,  as  I  know  she  has  Mr.  Burr's  happiness  much 
at  heart." 

Two  weeks  later  he  writes  to  his  "  dear  mammy"  on  the 
engrossing  subject :  "  I  can't  omit  acquainting  you  that  our 
president  enjoys  all  the  happiness  the  married  state  can  afford. 
I  am  sure  when  he  was  in  the  condition  of  celibacy  the  pleas, 
nre  of  his  life  bore  no  comparison  to  that  he  now  possesses. 
From  the  little  acquaintance  I  have  with  his  lady,  I  think  her 
a  woman  of  very  good  sense,  of  a  genteel  and  virtuous  edu 
cation,  amiable  in  her  person,  of  great  affability  and  agree- 
ableness  in  conversation,  and  a  very  excellent  economist. 
These  qualifications  may  help  you  to  form  some  idea  of  the 
person  who  lives  in  the  sincerest  mutual  affections  with  Mr 
Burr." 

The  marriage  was  speedily,  but  not  rashly,  concluded,    Th 


REVEREND     AARON     BURR.  30 

president,  it  is  probable,  had  not  seen  the  young  lady  since 
she  was  fifteen ;  but  at  that  age  her  father  thought  her  woman 
enough  to  be  a  member  of  his  church,  and  it  was  a  charactei . 
istic  of  that  cultivated  and  spiritualized  family  to  come  early 
to  maturity. 

Besides,  the  name  of  President  Burr  was  a  household  word 
in  the  family  of  Jonathan  Edwards.  The  two  men,  long  as 
sociated  in  schemes  for  Christianizing  the  Indians,  were  al»o 
formed  by  nature  to  be  friends,  because  each  could  see  in  the 
other  admirable  qualities  wanting  in  himself.  Edwards  was 
reflective  and  studious,  without  tact  or  knowledge  of  the 
world,  full  of  matter,  but  not  skillful  in  wielding  it.  He  la 
mented  his  awkward  address  and  unimposing  presence.  "  I 
have  a  constitution,"  he  says  in  a  well-known  passage,  "in 
many  respects  peculiarly  unhappy,  attended  with  flaccid 
solids,  vapid,  sizy,  and  scarce  fluids,  and  a  low  tide  of  spirits ; 
often  occasioning  a  kind  of  childish  weakness  and  contempti- 
bleness  of  speech,  presence,  and  demeanor,  and  a  disagreeable 
dullness  and  stiffness,  much  unfitting  me  for  conversation." 
Here  we  see  the  Student,  who  bent  over  his  books  fourteen 
hours  a  day,  who  took  his  meat  and  his  drink  by  weight  and 
measure,  and  whose  utter  sincerity  rendered  him  powerless  to 
subdue  or  to  manage  a  fractious  congregation.  Admirable  to 
such  a  man  must  have  seemed  the  alert  and  brilliant  Burr,  so 
thoroughly  alive,  with  every  faculty  at  instant  command,  of 
dauntless  self-possession,  with  a  presence  and  address  that 
invited  confidence  and  disarmed  impertinence.  Burr,  on  his 
part,  had  modesty  and  good  sense  enough  to  know  that,  with 
all  his  shining  qualities,  he  was  no  more  the  superior  of 
Jonathan  Edwards,  than  an  armory  is  superior  to  the  mine 
of  ore  from  which  the  polished  weapons  of  a  thousand  armo 
ries  can  be  made.  There  was  no  need  of  a  long  courtship, 
then,  for  Esther  Edwards  to  learn  that  Mr.  President  Burr 
was  a  man  to  make  happy  the  woman  he  loved. 

Besides  the  "  Latin  Grammar,"  Mr.  Burr  published  a  con 
troversial  "  Letter"  on  the  "  Supreme  Deity  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,"  whicL  was  reprinted  in  Boston  thirty  years  after  the 
tuthor's  death.  An  occasional  sermon  of  his  was  also  pub 


tO  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BUBB. 

lisht**  n  his  life-time.  Two  Latin  orations  by  him  have  beer, 
preserv  ed  in  manuscript,  and  many  letters  in  English.  One 
of  these  letters  may  close  this  chapter. 

The  letters  of  the  religious  people  of  those  good  old  daya 
give  little  insight  into  the  individuality  of  the  writers ;  hu 
man  nature  being  under  a  theologic  ban,  and  allowed  to  ex- 
fcibit  itself  as  little  as  possible.  But  the  following  letter*  ife 
an  interesting  relic,  as  it  is  characteristic  of  the  age,  if  not  of 
the  man.  It  was  written  to  a  Mr.  Hogg,  a  merchant  in  Scot 
land,  where,  by  order  of  the  kirk,  a  collection  for  the  College 
of  New  Jersey  was  made  in  every  parish.  After  acknowledg 
ing  the  unexpected  magnitude  of  the  Scottish  contribution, 
the  pious  president  proceeds : 

"  We  have  begun  a  building  at  Princeton,  which  contains  a 
hall,  library,  and  rooms  to  accommodate  about  an  hundred 
students,  though  it  will  not  any  more  of  it  be  finished  than  is 
absolutely  necessary  at  present — with  an  house  for  the  presi 
dent. 

"  We  do  every  thing  in  the  plainest  and  cheapest  manner  as 
far  as  is  consistent  with  decency  and  convenience,  having  no 
superfluous  ornaments.  There  was  a  necessity  of  our  having 
an  house  sufficient  to  contain  ye  students,  as  they  could  not 
lodge  in  private  houses  in  that  village  where  we  have  fixed  the 
college ;  which,  as  it  is  the  centre  of  the  province,  where  pro 
visions  are  plenty  and  firewood  will  always  be  cheap,  is  doubt 
less  the  fittest  place  we  cou'd  have  pitch'd  upon.  The  buildings 
prove  more  expensive  than  we  at  first  imagin'd,  from  the  best 
computations  we  could  get ;  but  by  the  smiles  of  heaven  upon 
us  we  shall  be  able  I  think  to  compleat  what  we  design  at 
present;  and  have  at  least  a  fund  left  of  £1,600  (sterling), 
which  with  the  other  income  of  the  college,  will  be  sufficient 
for  the  present  officers  and  a  little  more,  as  money  here  will 
readily  let  for  7  per  cent,  interest  with  undoubted  security. 
This  fund  will  be  encreased  by  what  we  get  from  Ireland,  and 
a  little  more  we  expect  from  South  Britain  [i.  e.  England] 
and  we  hope  by  the  help  of  some  generous  benefactors  here 

*  This  letter  was  published,  a  year  or  two  since,  in  the  Gentleman's  Magt* 
rine,  of  London,  merely  as  a  curiosity  accidentally  preserved. 


BEVEBEND     AAEON     BUEE.  41 

*nd  abroad  to  be  able  before  long  to  support  a  Professor  of 
Divinity.  That  office  at  present  lies  on  the  president,  with  a 
sonsiderable  part  of  the  instruction  in  other  branches  of  liter- 
ature.  The  trustees  have  their  eyes  upon  Mr.  Edwards,  and 
want  nothing  but  ability  to  give  him  an  immediate  call  to  that 
office. 

"  The  students  in  general  behave  well ;  some  among  them 
that  give  good  evidences  of  real  piety,  and  a  prospect  of  special 
usefulness  in  the  churches  of  Christ,  are  a  great  comfort  and 
support  to  me  under  the  burden  of  my  important  station. 

"  I  may  in  my  next  give  you  a  more  particular  account  of  the 
college.  It  is  at  present  under  flourishing  circumstances  in 
many  respects ;  has  grown  in  favor  with  men,  [and]  I  would 
humbly  hope  [with]  God  also.  'Tis  my  daily  concern  that  it 
may  answer  the  important  ends  of  its  institution,  and  that  the 
expectations  of  our  pious  friends  at  home  and  abroad  may  not 
be  disappointed. 

"  I  shall  not  fail  to  acknowledge  my  Lord  Lothian's  gener 
osity.  I  am  sorry  Messrs.  Tennant  and  Davies  neglected  sea 
sonably  to  acquaint  their  friends  in  Scotland  of  their  safe 
arrival,  etc.  I  hope  their  long  and  tedious  passage,  and  the 
confusion  their  aifairs  were  probably  in  by  their  long  absence, 
may  be  something  of  an  excuse.  I  can  testify  that  they  retain 
a  very  lively  sense  of  the  most  generous  treatment  y1  they  and 
the  college  met  with  in  those  parts. 

"  The  defeat  of  General  Braddock  was  an  awful  but  a  season 
able  rebuke  of  Heaven.  Those  that  had  the  least  degree  of 
seriousness  left  could  not  but  observe  with  concern  the  strange 
confidence  in  an  arm  of  flesh  and  disregard  to  God  and  religion 
that  appeared  in  that  army.  Preparations  were  made  for  re 
joicing  at  the  victory,  as  tho'  it  had  been  ensured,  and  a  day 
appointed  for  the  obtaining  it.  The  whole  country  were 
•Jarm'd  and  struck  with  astonishment  at  the  news  of  his  defeat, 
and  some  awaken'd  to  eye  the  high  hand  of  God  in  it,  who  had 
tho't  litle  of  it  before ;  and  I  can't  but  think  God  has  brought 
good  to  the  land  out  of  this  evil.* 

*  A  letter  of  Edwards,  of  nearly  the  same  date,  likewise  contains  gom* 
aommenta  on  thesa  transactions.  He  says,  "  I  had  opportunity  to  see  and  con 


42  LIFE     OP    AARON     BURR. 

"  On  the  contrary,  God  was  acknowledged  in  the  army  tnat 
went  from  Crown  Point,  vice  and  debauchery  suppressed  in  a 
tnannei  that  has  scarce  been  seen  in  this  land,  and  was  much 
admired  at  by  those  that  saw  it.  This  was  much  owing  to 
Major-General  Lyman,  with  whom  I  am  well  acquainted.  He 
s  a  man  of  piety,  and  for  courage  and  conduct,  a  spirit  of 
government  and  good  sense  he  has  not  his  superior  in  these 
parts.  He  acquitted  himself  with  uncommon  biavery  and 
good  conduct  in  the  engagement  at  Lake  George,  Sept.  8th, 
and  it  was  owing  to  him,  under  God,  y*  the  victory  was  ob 
tain' d,  which  prov'd  a  means  of  saving  ye  country  from  ruin, 
as  has  since  more  fully  appear'd  by  the  scheme  ye  French 
general  had  laid.  I  gave  [have  given]  this  hint  about  Mr. 
Lyman  because  Mr.  Edward  Cole,  one  of  ye  officers,  being 
offended  y*  he  banished  some  lewd  women  from  the  camp  y* 
he  had  brought  with  him,  wrote  a  letter  to  scandalize  him, 
hinting  that  he  was  a  coward,  tho'  numbers  that  were  in  the 

verse  with  ministers  belonging  to  almost  all  parts  of  North  America ;  and, 
among  others,  Mr.  Davies  of  Virginia.  He  told  me  that  he  verily  thought 
that  General  Braddock's  defeat,  the  last  summer,  was  a  merciful  dispensation 
of  Divine  Providence  to  those  southern  colonies.  He  said  that  notorious 
wickedness  prevailed  to  that  degree  in  that  army,  among  officers  and  soldiers, 
and  that  they  went  forth  openly  in  so  self-confident  and  vain-glorious  a  man 
ner,  that  if  they  had  succeeded  the  consequence  would  have  been  a  harden 
ing  of  people  in  those  parts,  in  a  great  degree,  in  a  profane  and  atheistical 
temper,  or  to  that  purpose ;  and  that  many  appeared  very  much  solemnized 
by  the  defeat  of  that  army,  and  the  death  of  the  general,  and  so  many  of  the 
other  chief  officers ;  and  some  truly  awakened.  And  by  what  I  could  learn  it 
had  something  of  the  same  effect  among  the  people  in  New  York  and  New 
Jersey.  And  the  contrary  success  of  the  New  England  forces  near  Lake 
George,  when  violently  attacked  by  Baron  Dieskau  and  the  regulars  from 
France  with  him,  who  had  been  the  chief  French  officer  on  the  Ohio  in  the  time 
of  the  engagement  with  General  Braddock,  one  of  which  officers  was  killed 
by  our  forces  and  the  other  taken — I  say  the  contrary  success  of  the  New  En 
gland  forces  seemed  to  confirm  the  aforesaid  effect ;  it  being  known  by  aU 
how  widely  this  army  differed  from  the  other,  in  the  care  that  was  taken  to 
estrain  vice  and  maintain  religion  in  it ;  particularly  by  Major-General  Lyman, 
Jie  second  officer  in  the  army,  a  truly  worthy  man ;  a  man  of  distinguished 
abilities  and  virtue,  as  well  as  uncommon  martial  endowments,  who  abov« 
any  other  officer  was  active  in  the  time  of  the  engagement."—  Letter  fo  Dt 
,  December  12th,  1755. 


BEVEBEND     AAEON     BUBB.  43 

;  hive  fully  establish'd  his  character  as  one  of  the 
bravest  officers,  who  expos'd  himself  in  the  hottest  fire  of  the 
enemy,  anlnating  his  men.  And  General  Johnson  himself 
acknowledges  ye  honor  of  the  day  was  due  to  Mr.  Lyman. 

"  The  state  of  these  American  Colonies  at  present  looks  dai  k, 
We  are  divided  in  our  councils.  Some  are  of  such  a  spirit 
that  they  will  forward  nothing  but  what  they  are  at  the  head 
of  themselves.  Several  of  the  governors  of  the  continent  are 
now  met  at  New  York,  to  concert  measures  for  the  safety  of 
[the]  country,  Much  will  depend  on  the  result  of  this  meet 
ing.  When  I  consider  ye  crying  iniquities  of  the  day  I  cannot 
but  tremble  for  fear  of  God's  judgments  that  seem  to  hang 
over  this  sinning  land. 

"  I  have  lately  had  a  letter  from  Stockbridge,  Mr.  Edwards 
and  his  family  are  in  usual  health,  except  his  daughter  Betty, 
who  is  never  well,  and  I  believe  not  long  for  this  world.  Theii 
situation  is  yet  distressing,  thro'  fear  of  the  enemy.  My  wife 
ioins  me  in  respectful  and  affectionate  salutations  to  you  and 
your  son.  I  add  but  my  poor  prayers  and  ardent  wishes  y* 
your  declining  days  may  be  fill'd  with  comfort  and  usefulness, 
y*  you  may  have  a  late  and  an  abundant  entrance  into  ye 
everlasting  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 
Amen." 

This  was  the  quality,  these  were  the  deeds  of  the  father  of 
Aaron  Burr. 

The  college  at  Princeton  is  his  monument ;  its  very  walls 
testify  to  his  thoroughness  and  integrity.  The  interior  of  the 
main  building  has  twice  been  destroyed  by  fire,  but  the  build 
ers  who  are  restoring  the  edifice  declare  that  no  walls  which 
they  could  now  erect  would  equal  in  strength  those  which 
were  constructed  under  the  superintendence  of  President 
Burr.  The  house  which  he  built  for  his  own  residence  has 
been  occupied  by  the  presidents  of  the  college  ever  since. 
Its  solid  structure,  and  spacious,  lofty  apartments,  seem  still  to 
testify  to  the  liberal  mind  and  hand  of  him  who  planned  it. 

The  portrait  of  President  Burr,  which  is  preserved  in  the 
college  library,  is  a  careful  copy  of  an  original  that  was  lost 
ind  injured  during  the  Revolution,  but  afterward  discovered 


44  LIFE     OF    AAEON    BURR. 

and  restored.  Fineness  of  fiber,  refinement,  and  utter  purity 
of  mind,  energy,  serenity,  and  seraphic  benevolence,  are 
equally  expressed  in  this  picture.  Near  to  it  leans  upon  the 
wall  Peale's  vast  portrait  of  Washington,  the  most  physical  of 
all  the  portraits  of  Washington  that  were  taken  from  life. 
The  contrast  is  striking.  That  one  of  these  men  should  be 
universally  accepted,  without  questioning,  as  our  greatest  and 
best,  while  the  other  is  scarcely  known,  compels  the  spectator 
to  doubt  the  correctness  of  one  or  the  other  of  these  portrait* 


CHAPTER   III. 


AARON  BURR  BORN,   AND   LEFT  AN   ORPHAH. 


TO  PRINCETON  —  LAST  LABORS  AND  DEATH  OF  PEKSIDBNT  BITER  —  Cairn 

AOTEE  AND  DEATH   OF  MRS.   BlTRB  —  THE   ORPHANED   CHILDREN  —  SARAH   B0RR 

Two  children  blessed  the  union  of  President  Burr  with  Es 
ther  Edwards  ;  Sarah  Burr,  born  May  3d,  1754  ;  and  AAEON 
BUBB,  born  February  6th,  1756.  Newark,  in  New  Jersey, 
was  the  birth-place  of  both  these  children. 

The  college  buildings  at  Princeton  were  nearly  completed 
when  Aaron  was  born.  In  the  autumn  of  that  year,  the  re 
moval  took  place  ;  the  college  of  New  Jersey  added  a  local 
habitation  to  its  well-earned  name.  The  president,  to  the 
great  sorrow  of  his  congregation,  resigned  the  pastorship  of 
the  Newark  church,  which  he  had  served  for  twenty  years 
with  the  ever-growing  love  of  its  members.  The  good  people 
would  scarcely  let  him  go.  They  said  that  the  connection 
between  pastor  and  flock,  like  that  between  husband  and 
wife,  was  indissoluble,  except  by  death  or  infidelity.  To  this 
day,  the  First  Presbyterian  church*  of  Newark  cherishes 
with  affectionate  pride  the  memory  of  this  man,  eminent 
among  the  many  eminent  men  who  have  stood  in  its  pulpit. 

To  Princeton,  then,  the  president  and  his  family  removed 
late  in  the  year  1756.  A  letter  by  one  of  the  trustees  of  the 
college  at  that  time,  sets  forth  that  "  the  salary  of  the  presi 
dent  is  two  hundred  pounds  proclamation  money,  with  the 
perquisites,  amounting  at  present  to  about  thirty  pounds,  and 
yearly  increasing  ;  a  large,  well-finished  dwelling-house,  gar 
dens,  barn,  out-houses,  etc.,  witn  a  considerable  quantity  of 
pasture-ground  and  firewood,  do  also  belong  to  the  president,71 

*  History  of  the  First  Church  at  Newark,  N.  J.,  by  Rev.  Dr.  Steam*. 


46  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

All  this  was,  probably,  equal  to  an  income  of  three  thousand 
dollars  at  the  present  time. 

And  now,  having  lived  to  establish  on  a  firm  foundation  the 
College  of  New  Jersey,  President  Burr's  work  on  earth  waa 
done.  The  manner  of  his  death  was  in  keeping  with  his  char 
acter.  At  the  end  of  the  summer  of  It57,  in  very  hot 
weather,  he  made  one  of  his  swift  journeys  to  Stockbridge, 
What  it  was  to  travel,  a  hundred  years  ago,  is  sufficiently 
known.  Returning  rapidly  to  Princeton,  he  went  imme 
diately  to  Elizabethtown,  a  hard  day's  ride,  to  procure  from 
the  authorities  there  a  legal  exemption  of  the  students  from 
military  duty.  The  next  day,  though  much  indisposed,  he 
preached  a  funeral  sermon  at  Newark,  five  miles  distant. 
Then  he  returned  to  Princeton.  In  a  few  days  he  went  to 
Philadelphia  on  other  business  of  the  college,  and,  on  his  re 
turn,  was  met  by  the  intelligence  that  his  friend,  and  the  col 
lege's  friend,  Governor  Belcher,  had  just  died  at  Elizabeth- 
town,  and  that  himself  had  been  designated  to  preach  the 
funeral  sermon.  His  wife  besought  him  to  be  just  to  himself, 
and  decline  the  office.  But  he,  accustomed  to  subdue  obsta 
cles,  and  desirous  to  do  honor  to  his  departed  friend,  sat 
down,  all  fatigued  and  feverish  as  he  was,  to  prepare  his  ser 
mon.  Before  he  slept,  it  was  finished.  That  night  he  waa 
delirious,  but  in  the  morning  he  set  off  for  Elizabethtown ; 
and  on  the  day  following,  with  a  languor  and  exhaustion  he 
could  no  longer  conceal,  he  preached  the  sermon.  Uncon- 
quered  yet,  he  next  day  returned  home,  where  his  fever,  from 
being  intermittent,  became  fixed  and  violent.  At  the  ap 
proach  of  death,  he  was  resigned  and  cheerful.  He  felt  as 
sured  of  immortality.  On  his  death-bed  he  gave  orders  that 
his  funeral  should  be  as  inexpensive  as  was  consistent  with 
decency,  and  that  the  sum  thus  saved  should  be  given  to  the 
poor.  On  the  24th  of  September,  1757,  in  the  forty-second 
year  of  his  age,  this  good  man  died. 

His  death  was  widely  and  sincerely  mourned.  His  funeral 
lermon  ;  the  eulogiums  pronounced  upon  him  by  the  Governor 
of  New  Jersey;  the  notices  of  his  death  in  the  public  journals 
M>d  many  private  letters  in  which  the  sad  event  is  mentioned 


AARON     BURR'S     BIRTH     AND     ORPHANAGE.       411 

aave  come  down  to  us;  and  all  speak  of  him  in  terms  that 
would  seem  extravagant  eulogy  to  one  unacquainted  with  the 
noble  heart,  the  brilliant  intellect,  the  beneficent  life  of  Presi 
dent  Burr.  In  the  letters  of  his  wife,  it  is  easy  to  see  through 
the  pious  phraseology  of  the  day,  the  heart-broken  woman, 
"  O,  dear  madam,"  writes  the  poor  bereaved  lady  to  her 
mother,  "I  doubt  not  but  I  have  your,  and  my  honored 
father's  prayers,  daily,  for  me ;  but,  give  me  leave  to  intreat 
you  both,  to  request  earnestly  of  the  Lord  that  I  may  never 
despise  his  chastenings,  nor  faint  under  this  his  severe  stroke ; 
of  which  I  am  sensible  there  is  great  danger,  if  God  should 
only  deny  me  the  supports  that  he  has  hitherto  graciously 
granted.  O,  I  am  afraid  I  shall  conduct  myself  so  as  to  bring 
dishonor  on  my  God,  and  the  religion  which  I  profess !  JS"o, 
rather  let  me  die  this  moment  than  be  left  to  bring  dishonor 
on  God's  holy  name.  I  am  overcome.  I  must  conclude,  with 
once  more  begging  that,  as  my  dear  parents  remember  them 
selves,  they  would  not  forget  their  greatly-afflicted  daughter 
(now  a  lonely  widow),  nor  her  fatherless  children." 

A  letter  to  her  father,  written  a  month  after  the  above, 
besides  being  very  pathetic,  contains  allusions  to  her  boy, 
then  twenty-one  months  old :  "  Since  I  wrote  my  mother  a 
letter,  God  has  carried  me  through  new  trials,  and  given  me 
new  supports.  My  little  son  has  been  sick  with  a  slow  fever, 
ever  since  my  brother  left  us,  and  has  been  brought  to  the 
brink  of  the  grave  ;  but,  I  hope  in  mercy,  God  is  bringing  him 
back  again.  1  was  enabled,  after  a  severe  struggle  with  nature, 
to  resign  the  child  with  the  greatest  freedom.  God  showed 
me  that  the  children  were  not  my  own,  but  his,  and  that  he 
had  a  right  to  recall  what  he  had  lent,  whenever  he  thought 
fit ;  and  that  I  had  no  reason  to  complain,  or  say  that  God 
was  hard  with  me.  This  silenced  me.  But  O  how  good  is  God. 
He  not  only  kept  me  from  complaining,  but  comforted  me,  by 
enabling  me  to  offer  up  my  child  by  faith,  if  ever  I  acted  faith. 
I  saw  the  fulness  there  was  in  Christ  for  little  infants,  and  his 
willingness  to  accept  of  such  as  were  offered  to  him.  '  Suf 
fer  little  children  to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid  them  not ;' 
were  comforting  words.  God  also  showad  me,  in  such  a  lively 


18  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BUBB, 

manner,  the  fulness  there  was  in  himself  of  all  spiritual  bless- 
mgs,  that  I  said,  *  Although  all  streams  are  cut  off,  yet  so 
long  as  my  God  lives,  I  have  en  )ugh.'  He  enabled  me  to  say, 
1  Although  thou  slay  me,  yet  \vill  I  trust  in  thee.'  In  this 
time  of  trial,  I  was  led  to  enter  into  a  renewed  and  explicit 
covenant  with  God,  in  a  more  solemn  manner  than  ever  be 
fore  ;  and  with  the  greatest  freedom  and  delight,  after  much 
self-examination  and  prayer,  I  did  give  myself  and  my  children 
to  God,  with  my  whole  heart.  .Never,  until  then,  had  I  an 
adequate  sense  of  the  privilege  wo  are  allowed  in  covenanting 
with  God.  This  act  of  soul  left  my  mind  in  a  great  calm,  and 
steady  trust  in  God.  A  few  days  after  this,  one  evening,  in 
talking  of  the  glorious  state  my  dear  departed  husband  must 
be  in,  my  soul  was  carried  out  in  such  large  desires  after  that 
glorious  state,  that  I  was  forced  to  retire  from  the  family  to 
conceal  my  joy.  When  alone  I  was  so  transported,  and  my 
soul  carried  out  in  such  eager  desires  after  perfection  and  the 
full  enjoyment  of  God,  and  to  serve  him  uninterruptedly,  that 
I  think  my  nature  would  not  have  borne  much  more.  I  think, 
dear  sir,  I  had  that  night,  a  foretaste  of  heaven.  This  frame 
continued,  in  some  good  degree,  the  whole  night.  I  slept  but 
little,  and  when  I  did,  my  dreams  were  all  of  heavenly  and 
divine  things.  Frequently  since,  I  have  felt  the  same  in  kind, 
though  not  in  degree.  This  was  about  the  time  that  God  called 
me  to  give  up  my  child.  Thus  a  kind  and  gracious  God  has 
been  with  me,  in  six  troubles  and  in  seven." 

In  these  utterances  of  a  broken  heart  struggling  against  the 
impiety  of  despair,  there  is  no  trace  of  the  peculiar  character 
of  Aaron  Burr's  mother.  Of  the  children  of  Jonathan  Ed 
wards,  not  one  was  a  common-place  person,  and  scarcely  one 
even  of  his  grandchildren.  But  Mrs.  Burr  was,  perhaps,  the 
flower  of  the  family.  One  of  her  relations  has  written  of  her 
these  sentences  :  "  She  exceeded  most  of  her  sex  in  the  beauty 
of  her  person,  as  well  as  in  her  behavior  and  conversation.  She 
discovered  an  unaffected,  natural  freedom,  toward  persons  of 
all  ranks,  with  whom  she  conversed.  Her  genius  was  much 
more  than  common.  She  had  a  livel  y,  sprightly  imagination 
ft  <juick  and  penetrating  discernment,  and  a  good  judgment 


AARON     BtJBK'S     B1BTH     A.N  D     OKPHANAGE.      49 

She  possessed  an  uncommon  degree  of  wit  and  vivacity  ;  which 
yet  was  consistent  with  pleasantness  and  good  nature ;  and 
she  knew  how  to  be  facetious  and  sportive,  without  trespass 
ing  on  the  bounds  of  decorum,  or  of  strict  and  serious  religion. 
In  short,  she  seemed  formed  to  please,  and  especially  to  please 
one  of  Mr.  Burr's  taste  and  character,  in  whom  he  was  ex 
ceedingly  happy.  But  what  crowned  all  her  excellences,  and 
was  her  chief  glory,  was  RELIGION.  She  appeared  to  be  the 
subject  of  divine  impressions  when  seven  or  eight  years  old  ; 
and  she  made  a  public  profession  of  religion  when  about  fif 
teen.  Her  conversation,  until  her  death,  was  exemplary,  as 
becometh  godliness.  She  was,  in  every  respect,  an  ornament 
to  her  sex,  being  equally  distinguished  for  the  suavity  of  her 
manners,  her  literary  accomplishments,  and  her  unfeigned  re 
gard  to  religion.  Her  religion  did  not  cast  a  gloom  over  her 
mind,  but  made  her  cheerful  and  happy,  and  rendered  the 
thought  of  death  transporting.  She  left  a  number  of  manu 
scripts,  on  interesting  subjects,  and  it  was  hoped  they  would 
have  been  made  public ;  but  they  are  now  lost." 

Death  had  only  begun  his  fell  work  in  their  family.  Jona 
than  Edwards  was  immediately  elected  to  succeed  Mr.  Burr 
In  the  presidency  of  the  college.  Soon  after  his  arrival  at 
Princeton,  he  heard  of  the  death  of  his  father,  a  venerable 
clergyman  of  Connecticut,  in  the  eighty-ninth  year  of  his  age. 
Two  months  after,  before  he  had  fully  entered  upon  his  duties 
as  president,  died  Jonathan  Edwards  himself,  of  a  fever  which 
followed  inoculation  for  small-pox.  Sixteen  days  after,  of 
a  similar  disease,  Mrs.  Burr  died.  Her  two  orphaned  children 
were  taken  from  her  funeral  to  the  house  of  an  old  friend  of 
the  family  in  Philadelphia,  where  they  remained  six  months. 
In  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  the  widow  of  Jonathan  Edwarda 
went  to  Philadelphia  with  the  intention  of  conveying  the  little 
orphans  to  her  own  home,  and  bringing  them  up  with  her  own 
children.  At  Philadelphia,  she  was  seized  with  the  dysentery, 
and  she  too  died.  Thus  within  a  period  of  thirteen  months, 
these  children  were  of  father  mother,  great  grandfather,  and 
grand  parents,  all  bereft ;  and  there  was  no  one  left  in  the 

a 


50  LIFE     OP     AARON     BURR. 


world  whose  chief  concern  it  could  be  to  see  tLat  tii<*y 
received  no  detriment. 

All  but  the  great  grandfather  lie  buried  at  Princeton,  where 
the  virtues  and  graces  of  the  two  presidents  are  elaborately 
set  forth  in  lapidary  Latin.  Strange  to  say,  some  of  the  letters 
respecting  the  carving  of  President  Burr's  tomb-stone  have  es 
caped  the  chances  of  destruction  for  a  hundred  years,  and  are 
still  legible  to  the  biographic  eye. 

President  Burr  left  his  children  considerable  property; 
enough  for  their  independent  maintenance,  even  in  maturity. 
They  were  reared  at  Elizabethtown,  New  Jersey,  in  the  family 
of  the  Hon.  Timothy  Edwards,  President  Edwards's  eldest 
son.  A  private  tutor,  Mr.  Tappan  Reeve,  afterward  Judge  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Connecticut,  superintended  their  ear 
liest  studies,  and  in  due  time  fell  in  love  with  his  pretty  pupil, 
Sarah  Burr,  and  when  she  was  seventeen  married  her.  That 
she  loved  her  brother  dearly,  is  all  that  is  known  of  Sarah 
Burr's  childhood.  One  of  Aaron's  early  correspondents  says 
that  she  approved  of  her  brother's  going  to  the  war  in  1775, 
which,  he  adds,  "  is  a  great  proof  of  patriotism  in  a  sister  so 
affectionate  as  yours."  She  was  of  a  noble,  commanding  face 
and  figure.  As  she  was  for  many  years  an  invalid,  and  died 
at  a  comparatively  early  age,  she  had  little  to  do  with  her 
brother's  life,  though  she  left  upon  his  memory  a  tender  recol 
lection  of  her  worth  and  loveliness,  which  he  cherished  and 
spoke  of  to  his  dying  day. 

NOTE.  —  Since  the  publication  of  the  first  edition  of  this  work,  it  has  been 
discovered  that  the  private  journal  of  Aaron  Burr's  mother  is  still  in  exist 
ence.  The  following  is  her  description  of  Aaron  when  he  was  thirteen 
months  old:  "January  31,  1758.  —  Aaron  is  a  little,  dirty,  noisy  boy,  very 
different  from  Sally  almost  in  everything.  He  begins  to  talk  a  little  ;  is 
very  sly  and  mischievous.  He  has  more  sprightliness  than  Sally,  and  moal 
Bay  he  is  handsome,  but  not  so  good  tempered.  He  is  very  resolute,  anri  ro 
%uires  a  good  governor  to  bring  him  to  terms." 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE    EDUCATION    OF    AAEON    BUBB. 

fUZABETHTOWK — ANECDOTES  OF  BURR'S  CHILDHOOD — HlS  CAREER  AT  COLLEG 

TO  DR.  BELLAMY'S  THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOL — KEJECTS  THE  PURITANIC  THEOLOGY — FOND 
OF  LADIES'  SOCIETY — STUDIES  LAW. 

ELIZABETHTOWN  was  then,  as  it  is  now,  a  village  containing 
an  unusual  proportion  of  polite  families.  It  had  been  the  resi 
dence  of  the  governor  and  other  officials  of  the  province. 
The  vicinity  is  a  level,  red-soiled,  unattractive  region  ;  but  a 
little  river  flows  through  it,  emptying,  at  a  point  one  mile 
from  the  village,  into  Staten  Island  Sound,  which  is  part  of 
the  intricate  system  of  waters  that  affords  so  many  beautiful 
highways  to  the  city  of  New  York.  That  city  is  fifteen  miles 
distant.  Within  excursion  distance  is  Staten  Island,  where, 
during  Aaron  Burr's  childhood,  large  bodies  of  British  troops 
were  frequently  encamped. 

From  the  three  anecdotes  of  Burr's  childhood,  which  have 
come  down  to  us,  we  may  infer  that  he  was  a  troublesome  ward 
to  his  reverend  uncle.  That  gentleman,  a  strict  and  conscien 
tious  Puritan,  tried  the  system  of  repression  upon  a  boy  who 
could  not  be  repressed ;  and  the  result  was,  that  the  young 
gentleman  was  frequently  in  a  state  of  rebellion.  The  author 
ity  for  these  anecdotes  was  Colonel  Burr  himself,  who  used  to 
relate  tne  two  principal  ones  with  great  glee. 

When  he  was  four  years  old,  he  took  offense  at  his  tutor 
and  ran  away.  He  contrived  to  elude  the  search  for  three  or 
four  days,  and — there  the  story  ends. 

About  his  eighth  year,  the  following  incident  occurred : 
He  was  in  a  cherry-tree  in  his  uncle's  garden,  one  fine  after- 
noon  in  July,  when  ne  observed,  coming  up  the  walk,  an  el 
derly  lady,  a  guest  of  the  house,  wearing  a  silk  dress,  which 


62  LIFE     OF     AARON     BUP~. 

was  then  a  rare  luxury.  The  prim  behavior  and  severe  mo- 
rality  of  this  ancient  maiden  had  made  her  a  somewhat  odious 
object  in  the  sight  of  the  boy.  Concealed  in  the  tree,  he 
amused  himself  by  throwing  cherries  at  her:  upon  observing 
which,  she  angrily  sought  Uncle  Timothy,  to  tell  him  of  Aaron's 
misconduct.  The  boy  was  summoned  to  the  study,  where  the 
case  was  treated  in  the  severe  Puritanic  method.  First  came 
a  long  lecture  upon  the  enormity  of  the  offense ;  which  was 
followed  by  a  long  prayer  for  the  offender's  reformation 
From  the  beginning  of  these  ceremonies,  the  boy  well  knew 
how  they  were  to  end,  and  he  could  form  an  idea  of  the  se 
verity  of  the  coming  punishment  from  the  length  of  the  prayer 
and  exhortation.  A  terrible  castigation  followed  ;  or,  as  Burr 
used  to  phrase  it,  "  he  licked  me  like  a  sack." 

Those  were  the  days,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind,  when  the 
old  received  something  like  homage  from  the  young.  The 
children  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  for  example,  rose  at  the  en 
trance  of  their  parents ;  and  when  they  met  in  the  street  a 
clergyman  or  old  person,  they  stood  aside,  took  off  their  hats, 
and  bowed,  and  waited  till  the  reverend  individual  had  gone 
by.  In  the  eyes  of  Uncle  Timothy,  therefore,  the  boy's  affront 
to  his  elderly  guest  would  seem  a  crime  of  audacious  magni 
tude. 

At  the  age  of  ten,  Aaron  had  the  fancy  which  besets  most 
active  boys  once  during  their  childhood,  to  go  to  sea.  A  sec 
ond  time  he  ran  away.  He  went  to  New  York,  took  the  post 
of  cabin-boy  on  board  a  ship  getting  ready  for  sea,  and  actu 
ally  served  in  that  capacity  for  a  short  time.  But,  one  day 
while  he  was  at  work  on  the  quarter-deck,  he  spied  a  sus 
picious  clerical-looking  gentleman  coming  rapidly  down  the 
wharf,  who,  he  soon  saw,  was  his  uncle,  bent  on  the  capture 
of  a  cabin-boy.  He  sprang  into  the  rigging,  and  before  his 
uncle  got  on  board  the  ship,  had  climbed  to  the  mast-head. 
He  saw  his  advantage,  and  resolved  to  profit  by  it.  He  was 
ordered  down,  but  refused  to  come.  As  his  uncle  was  a  gen 
ileman  who  would  have  been  nowhere  less  at  home  than  at 
the  mast-head  of  a  ship,  the  command  had  to  soften  itself  into 
an  entreaty,  and  it  became,  finally,  a  negotiation.  Upon  th« 


\ 


THE  EDUCATION  OP  AARON  BURR.      53 

Condition  that  nothing  disagreeable  should  befall  him  in  con 
lequence  of  the  adventure,  the  runaway  agreed  to  descend, 
and  go  home  again  to  his  books. 

These  little  stories  exhibit  the  rebel  merely.  A  decisive 
fact  or  two  of  an  opposite  nature  has  been  preserved.  Pier- 
pont  Edwards,  another  uncle  of  Aaron  Burr's,  but  only  six 
years  his  senior,  was  his  schoolfellow  for  a  while  at  Elizabeth- 
town.  One  of  Pierpont's  letters,  written  when  Aaron  was 
seven  years  old,  contains  this  sentence :  "  Aaron  Burr  is  here, 
is  hearty,  goes  to  school,  and  learns  bravely."  The  fact  of 
Pierpont  Edwards  being  Burr's  schoolfellow,  and  one  who, 
from  his  age,  talents,  and  relationship,  would  be  likely  to 
exert  great  influence  upon  him,  should  be  noted  ;  for  Pierpont 
Edwards,  besides  being  a  great  lawyer,  was  also  a  remarkably 
free  liver. 

There  is  other  testimony  to  Aaron's  diligence  as  a  student. 
At  the  age  of  eleven  he  was  prepared  for  college,  and  apply 
ing  for  admission  at  Princeton,  was  rejected  on  account  of  his 
youth.  He  was  not  only  too  young,  but  the  smallness  of  his 
stature  made  the  application  seem  ridiculous.  He  was  then  a 
strikingly  pretty  boy,  very  fair,  with  beautiful  black  eyes,  and 
such  graceful,  engaging  ways  as  rendered  him  a  favorite. 
What  the  qualifications  were  for  admission  into  college,  at 
that  time,  may  be  inferred  from  another  remark  in  the  letter 
of  Pierpont  Edwards  just  quoted.  "  I  am  reading  Virgil  and 
Greek  grammar,"  he  says;  "I  would  have  entered  college, 
but  my  constitution  would  not  bear  it,  being  weak."  A  boy 
able  to  read  Virgil,  and  who  knew  the  Greek  alphabet,  could 
have  obtained  admission  into  the  Freshman  class  at  Princeton 
at  that  time.  But,  considering  the  imperfect  aids  to  the  ac 
quisition  of  the  language  which  schoolboys  then  had,  we  may 
assign  the  character  of  a  forward  and  industrious  boy  to  one 
who  was  ready  for  college  at  the  age  of  eleven. 

This  rejection  on  account  of  his  want  of  years  and  inches 
was  a  source  of  deep  mortification  to  the  aspiring  lad.  He 
did  his  best,  however,  to  frustrate  the  college  authorities  by 
mastering  at  home  che  studies  of  the  first  ».wo  college  years, 
and  then,  in  his  thirteenth  year,  applying  for  admission  into 


>4  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BUEE. 

Ae  Junior  class.  This,  too,  was  denied  him  ;  and,  more  as  a 
favor  than  as  a  right,  he  was  allowed  to  enter  the  Sophomore 
class.  He  should  have  been  fifteen  years  old  to  have  joined 
the  Sophomores.  It  was  in  1769,  during  the  presidency  of 
Dr.  Witherspoon,  a  Scotch  clergyman,  in  whose  veins  flowed 
the  blood  of  John  Knox,  that  Aaron  Burr  began  his  residence 
at  Princeton. 

His  career  at  college  was  similar  to  that  of  thousands  of 
American  youth.  He  went  to  Princeton  with  extravagant 
ideas  of  the  acquirements  of  collegians ;  but  with  a  resolution 
to  be  equal  with  the  foremost.  The  first  year  he  studied 
excessively  hard.  Finding  that  he  could  not  acquire  as  well 
in  the  afternoon  as  in  the  morning,  and  attributing  the  fact  to 
his  eating  too  much,  he  became  very  abstemious,  and  was 
then  able  to  study  sixteen,  and  occasionally  eighteen,  hours  a 
day.  He  became  pale,  and  was  supposed  to  be  in  ill  health. 
When  the  day  of  examination  came,  he  found  himself  so  much 
in  advance  of  his  classmates,  that  the  motive  to  such  extra 
ordinary  exertions  no  longer  existed,  and,  thenceforward,  he 
was  as  idle  as  he  had  formerly  been  industrious. 

It  has  been  said,  and  apparently  on  his  own  authority,  that 
he  was  dissipated  at  college  ;  but  his  dissipation  could  scarcely 
have  been  of  an  immoral  nature.  Princeton  was  then  a  very 
small  village,  nearly  surrounded  by  dense  forests,  in  the  midst 
of  a  region  containing,  at  wide  intervals,  a  settlement  of 
Quakers  or  Dutch.  There  was  no  large  town  or  navigable 
water  within  many  miles.  The  village  was  the  half-way  sta 
tion,  on  the  high  road  between  New  York  and  Philadelphia, 
travelers  to  either  of  which  would  usually  stop  at  Prince 
ton  at  night.  A  coach  load  of  people,  and  several  other  trav 
elers,  were  at  the  tavern  nearly  every  night  in  the  week.  For 
their  amusement,  a  billiard  table  was  kept  in  the  place,  but 
Burr  played  only  one  game.  On  that  occasion,  it  chanced 
that  he  won  a  small  sum,  and  on  going  home,  he  felt  so  de 
graded  by  the  circumstance,  that  he  revived  never  more  to 
play  at  any  game  for  money ;  and  he  kept  his  resolution.  At 
vhe  tavern,  too,  the  students  could  procure  the  luxuries  of  th» 
.able.  But  Burr,  then  and  always,  was  a  Spartan  in  eating 


1HE     EDUCATION     OF     AARON     BUBJB.  55 

jmd  dunking.  And  with  regard  to  guiltier  pleasures,  he  was 
but  sixteen  when  he  graduated;  the  place  of  his  residence 
was  rustic  and  Puritanic  Princeton ;  and  the  time  was  not  far 
removed  from  the  days  of  the  "  Scarlet  Letter."  It  was  not  till 
after  he  had  left  college  that  he  adopted  the  opinions  which 
took  the  reins  of  passion  out  of  the  hands  of  conscience,  and 
gave  them  into  those  of  prudence. 

Part  of  Burr's  dissipation  in  college  was  merely  a  dissipa 
tion  of  mind  in  multifarious  reading.  That  he  was  versed  in 
the  polite  literature  of  the  day,  is  evident  in  his  compositions, 
He  was,  ajso,  a  constant  reader  of  the  lives  and  histories  of 
great  military  men.  During  Burr's  boyhood,  the  fame  of 
Frederic  the  Great  filled  the  world.  The  Seven  Years'  War 
began  when  he  wras  in  the  cradle,  and  the  most  brilliant  achieve 
ments  of  the  great  captain  were  fresh  in  men's  minds  while 
the  youth  was  in  his  susceptible  years.  As  the  supposed  cham 
pion  of  Protestantism  against  the  leagued  Catholic  powers, 
Frederic  was  greatly  admired  in  the  American  provinces, 
and  the  splendor  of  his  reputation  may  have  had  its  share  in 
giving  Burr  his  life-long  love  for  the  military  profession.  The 
old  French  war,  too,  was  not  concluded  when  Burr  first  saw 
the  light.  The  provinces  were  full  of  wild  tales  of  that  most 
romantic  of  contests,  during  all  of  his  earlier  years.  And 
long  before  he  left  college,  were  heard  the  mutterings  of  the 
coming  storm  which  was  to  summon  from  their  retirement, 
and  crown  with  new  laurels,  so  many  of  the  rustic  soldiers 
who  had  won  distinction  in  that  toughly-contested  forest  war 
which  secured  this  continent  to  the  race  which  holds  it  now. 

A  college  freak  of  Burr's  excited  a  great  deal  of  mirth 
among  the  students  at  the  time.  He  was  a  member  of  a  lite 
rary  club,  the  Clio-Sophie,  the  members  of  which  presided  at 
its  meetings  in  rotation.  On  one  occasion,  when  Burr  was  in 
the  chair,  a  professor  of  the  college,  from  whom  he  had  re 
ceived  many  an  unwelcome  admonition,  chanced  to  come  in 
after  the  business  of  the  evening  had  commenced.  Burr,  as 
suming  as  much  of  professorial  dignity  as  his  diminutive  stat 
ure  admitted,  and  with  that  imperturbable  self-possession  foi 
he  was  distinguished,  ordered  the  professor  to  rise.  He 


56  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

then  began  to  lecture  the  delinquent  upon  his  want  of  punctu 
ality,  observing  that  the  older  members  of  the  society  were 
expected  to  set  a  better  example  to  the  younger,  and  conclud 
ing  with  a  hope  that  he  should  not  be  under  the  necessity  of 
recurring  again  to  the  subject.  Having  thus  given  the  profes 
sor  a  parody  of  one  of  those  harangues  which  preceptors 
are  prone  to  bestow  upon  neglectful  pupils,  he  informed  him 
that  he  might  resume  his  seat;  which  the  astonished  gen 
tleman  did,  amid  the  merriment  of  the  society.  This  story 
used  to  be  told  of  Burr  at  Princeton,  years  after  he  had  left 
college. 

His  college  compositions,  of  which  several  have  been  pre 
served,  indicate  an  unusual  maturity  in  a  youth  of  fifteen 
years.  Style  is  the  subject  of  one  of  them,  the  burden  of 
which  is  to  recommend  conciseness  and  simplicity,  which  were 
always  the  characteristics  of  his  own  writings.  "  A  labored 
style  is  labor  even  to  the  hearer,"  observes  the  young  critic, 
"  but,  a  simple  style,  like  simple  food,  preserves  the  appetite." 
He  contends  for  a  colloquial  manner,  and  mentions  Sir  Thomaa 
Browne's  Treatise  on  "  Vulgar  Errors"  as  an  example  of  ab 
surd  pomposity.  "  There  is  no  such  thing,"  remarks  the  youth, 
"  as  a  sublime  style  /  sublimity  is  in  the  thought,  which  is  ren 
dered  the  more  sublime  by  being  expressed  in  simple  lan 
guage."  This  is  not  the  usual  tone  of  a  college  composition. 
Another  of  Burr's  college  essays,  is  on  The  Passions.  He  could 
not  have  read  Goethe's  oft-declaimed  observation,  "Man  alone 
is  interesting  to  Man,"  because  Goethe  at  this  time  was  himself 
a  college  student  at  Strasbourg ;  yet  Burr  opens  his  discourse 
upon  the  passions  quite  in  the  spirit  of  the  Goethean  maxim. 
Nor  could  he  have  known  the  office  assigned  the  passions  by 
phrenologists,  for  Gall  was  then  a  boy  three  years  old  ;  yet  he 
says  that  the  grand  design  of  the  passions  is  to  rouse  to 
action  the  sluggish  powers  of  the  mind.  "The  passions," 
he  adds,  "  if  properly  regulated,  are  the  gentle  gales  which 
keep  life  from  stagnating,  but,  if  let  loose,  the  tempests  which 
tear  every  thing  before  them."  He  continues  in  the  following 
strain:  "Do  we  not  frequently  behold  men  of  the  most 
iprightly  genius,  by  giving  the  reins  to  their  passions,  lost  to 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  AARON  BURR.      57 

society,  and  reduced  to  the  lowest  ebb  of  misery  and  despair? 
Do  we  not  frequently  behold  persons  of  the  most  penetrating 
discernment  and  happy  turn  for  polite  literature,  "by  mingling 
with  the  sons  of  sensuality  and  riot,  blasted  in  the  bloom  of 
life  ?  Such  was  the  fate  of  the  late  celebrated  Duke  of  Whar- 
ton,  Wilmot,  Earl  of  Rochester,  and  Villers,  Duke  of  Buck 
ingham,  three  noblemen,  as  eminently  distinguished  by  their 
wit,  taste,  and  knowledge,  as  for  their  extravagance,  revelry 
and  lawless  passions.  In  such  cases,  the  most  charming  elocu 
tion,  the  finest  fancy,  the  brightest  blaze  of  genius,  and  the 
noblest  bursts  of  thought,  call  for  louder  vengeance,  and  damn 
them  to  lasting  infamy  and  shame."  He  says,  in  conclusion, 
"  Permit  me,  however  unusual,  to  close  with  a  wish.  May 
none  of  these  unruly  passions  ever  captivate  any  of  my  au 
dience." 

One  of  these  college  pieces,  entitled  "  An  Attempt  to  Search 
the  Origin  of  Idolatry,"  is  interesting,  as  showing  that  the 
writer,  whatever  may  have  been  his  subsequent  opinions,  was, 
while  in  college,  a  sharer  in  the  faith  of  his  fathers.  His  conclu 
sion  is,  that  the  accursed  Ham,  or  his  accursed  sons,  were  the 
inventors  of  idol  worship.  An  incidental  opinion  expressed 
in  this  piece  is,  ^hat  atheism  is  more  odious  than  idolatry. 

It  is  unsafe' to  infer  the  character  of  a  writer  from  the  char 
acter  of  his  writings,  as  the  power  of  some  writers  consists  in 
an  ability  to  give  striking  expression  to  emotions  which  they 
merely  see  it  would  be  highly  becoming  in  them  to  feel.  But 
we  would  scarcely  believe  this  of  a  boy  of  fifteen.  So  far  as 
Burr's  youthful  essays  do  reveal  his  character,  they  seem  to 
show  that,  at  this  period  of  his  life,  he  possessed  an  acute  in 
tellect,  an  independent  habit  of  thought,  and  an  ingenuous, 
amiable  disposition.  During  Burr's  last  winter  in  college, 
there  occurred  one  of  those  periodical  excitements  with  regard 
to  religion  which  were  so  important  a  feature  in  the  early 
history  of  the  provinces ;  an  excitement  similar  to  that  whicb 
bad  diverted  Burr's  grandfather  from  natural  science  to  theol 
%gy,  and  won  his  father  from  the  enthusiastic  pursuit  of  clas* 
lical  literature.  This  revival  was  one  of  more  than  ordinary 
intensity,  and  a  large  r.  amber  of  the  students  became  converts 

3* 


18  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

Burr,  then  very  idle,  and  devoted  to  such  pleasures  as  the 
rustic  neighborhood  afforded,  was  urged  both  by  the  profess 
ors  and  by  his  companions,  to  renounce  his  way  of  life  and  follow 
the  example  of  his  eminent  ancestors.  But  he  held  quietly 
aloof.  As  the  excitement  increased,  his  friends  redoubled 
their  efforts.  They  appealed  to  his  fears,  threatening  him  with 
all  the  terrific  penalties  of  the  law,  if  Ae,  descended  from  such 
illustrious  exemplars  of  the  faith,  Ae,  the  son  of  a  father  so 
eloquent  in  its  promulgation,  of  a  mother  who  had  so  longed 
and  importuned  for  his  conversion,  should  finally  become  a 
castaway.  Burr  confessed  that  he  was  moved  by  this  revival. 
He  respected  the  religion  of  his  mother ;  he  had  taken  for 
granted  the  creed  in  which  he  had  been  educated.  Therefore, 
though  he  was  repelled  by  the  wild  excitement  that  prevailed, 
and  disgusted  by  the  means  employed  to  excite  terror,  his 
mind  was  not  at  ease.  He  consulted  Dr.  Witherspoon  in  this 
perplexity.  The  clergymen  of  the  time  were  divided  in  opinion 
upon  the  subject  of  revivals  :  those  educated  in  the  old  country 
being  generally  opposed  to  them.  President  Witherspoon  was 
of  that  number,  and  he  accordingly  told  the  anxious  student 
that  the  raging  excitement  was  fanatical,  not  truly  religious, 
and  Burr  went  away  relieved. 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  if  the  promoters  of  that  revival  had 
appealed  solely  to  his  sense  of  the  becoming  and  the  just, 
Aaron  Burr  might  have  been  won  to  their  views,  and  might 
have  lived  over  again,  on  a  greater  scale,  and  with  greater  re 
sults,  the  life  of  his  father.  But  the  attempt  to  strike  terror  in 
the  soul  of  one  who  never  knew  what  it  was  to  be  afraid,  was 
a  failure,  of  course. 

A  habit  formed  by  Burr,  at  college,  had  an  important  influ 
ence  upon  his  fortunes  at  the  critical  point  of  his  career.  It 
was  the  habit  of  writing  his  confidential  letters  in  cipher.  The 
practice  was  common  at  the  time.  The  letters  of  all  the  emi 
nent  men  of  the  revolutionary  period,  Washington,  Jefferson 
Hamilton,  Adams,  and  the  rest,  contained  evidence  of  an 
habitual  distrust  of  the  public  conveyance  of  letters.  This 
distrust  existed  before  the  Revolution,  during  the  Revolution 
tnd  after  the  Revolution  :  down,  in  fact,  to  the  time  when  th* 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  AAEON  BUBR.       59 

mere  multitude  of  letters  was  their  best  protection.  The  fear 
was  not  so  much  that  letters  would  not  reach  their  destination, 
as  that  they  would  be  read  on  the  way.  Burr's  practice, 
therefore,  of  writing  in  cipher  to  his  sister  and  to  his  class 
mates,  was  in  conformity  with  the  feeling  and  habit  of  the 
time,  and  not  merely  an  evidence  of  a  peculiarly  secretive 
character.  But  he  was  secretive — often  absurdly  so — as  his 
adoption  of  this  custom  in  his  boyish  correspondence  might 
have  led  one  to  suspect. 

He  formed  friendships  in  college  that  ended  only  with  life. 
William  Patterson,  afterward  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States  ;  the  gallant  Colonel  Matthias  Ogden,  of 
New  Jersey;  Samuel  Spring,  svho  became  a  distinguished 
divine,  and  who  was  the  father  of  Dr.  G.  Spring,  a  still  more 
eminent  theologian,  were  among  those  whom  he  loved  at  col 
lege,  and  who  loved  him  while  they  lived.  Samuel  Spring 
became  a  student  of  theology  at  Newport  before  Burr  grad 
uated,  and  he  wrote  to  his  friend  upon  the  charms  of  divinity, 
and  in  a  modest,  manly  way,  urged  him  to  fulfill  the  hopes  of 
his  parents  by  devoting  himself  to  the  same  pursuit. 

In  Septembers  1772,  when  he  was  sixteen  years  of  age, 
Burr  graduated  at  the  College  of  New  Jersey  with  distinc 
tion.  He  delivered  an  oration  on  commencement-day  with 
considerable,  but  not  distinguished,  applause.  His  manner 
and  bearing  were  graceful.  The  matter  of  his  discourse  was 
good,  but  he  spoke  with  un effective  rapidity,  and  with  an  eni- 
phasis  so  frequent  and  intense  as  to  partly  defeat  the  object  of 
emphasis.  Nevertheless,  his  friend  Patterson  was  of  opinion 
that,  if  Burr  was  not  the  best  of  the  speakers,  there  was  but 
one  who  excelled  him. 

He  continued  to  live  at  Princeton  for  several  months  after 
receiving  his  degree,  during  which  he  read  extensively,  re 
viewed  some  of  his  college  studies,  added  many  volumes  to 
iis  collection  of  books,  took  part  in  the  exercises  of  t j.e  Clio- 
Sophie  Society,  and  anrised  himself  to  the  extent  affcrled  by 
the  place  in  which  he  lived.  His  income  was  ample  for  the 
maintenance  of  a  young  man,  and  he  was  in  no  haste  to  choose 

profession.     In  the  spring  and  summer  of  1773,  he  was 


10  LIFE     OP     AAEON     BURR. 

much  at  Elizabethtown.  One  of  his  fkvorite  pleasures  there 
was  boating,  an  amusement  for  which  the  neighboring  waters 
afford  facilities  perhaps  unrivaled  in  the  world.  Burr  knew 
uvery  inlet  and  islet  of  those  waters,  and  could  manage  a  boat 
with  much  skill.  The  experience  gained  in  his  aquatic  ex 
cursions  there  was  turned  by  him  to  excellent  account  on  sev 
eral  occasions  in  his  subsequent  career  of  adventure  and  vicis 
situde. 

A  year  of  busy  idleness  the  youth  passed  in  these  scenes 
before  he  began  to  think  seriously  of  the  future.  After  leav 
ing  college,  and  indeed  long  before,  he  was  quite  his  own  mas 
ter,  his  uncle  having  early  relinquished  his  endeavors  to  con 
trol  the  movements  of  a  ward  who  knew  how,  in  all  circum 
stances,  to  have  his  own  way.  But  a  profession  was  now  to 
be  chosen.  His  relations,  the  friends  of  his  father,  and  many 
in  whose  memory  the  mother  of  this  youth  was  still  most  fresh 
and  fragrant,  hoped,  expected,  that  he  would,  in  due  time,  be 
attracted  to  the  profession  which  so  many  of  his  ancestors  had 
adorned.  Not  wantonly,  nor  hastily  did  he  decide  to  disap 
point  these  expectations.  The  uneasiness  of  mind  which  had 
been  created  during  the  great  revival  at  Princeton,  had  been 
allayed,  but  not  removed,  by  his  conversation  with  Dr.  With- 
erspoon,  and  he  was  now  determined  upon  settling  his  theo- 
logic  difficulties  for  ever.  A  mind  so  active,  penetrating,  and 
fearless  as  his,  must  have  come  in  contact  with  the  skepti 
cism  that  was  then  the  rage  in  Europe,  and  which  had  capti 
vated  the  Jeffersons  and  Franklins  of  America.  He  could  not 
have  escaped  it,  for  it  pervaded  the  books  which  he  was  most 
sure  to  be  drawn  to.  He  resolved,  therefore,  instead  of  sub 
jecting  himself  to  be  tried  by  the  theology  of  the  day,  which 
was  what  his  pious  friends  desired,  to  put  that  theology  itself 
upon  trial. 

Dr.  Joseph  Bellamy,  of  Bethlehem,  Connecticut,  who  had 
rtudied  theology  under  Jonathan  Edwards,  was,  in  some  de 
gree,  the  inheritor  of  his  master's  preeminent  position  in  the 
elerical  world.  Great  was  his  fame  as  a  preacher.  His  pub 
lished  works  were  popular  in  his  life -time,  and  continued  to  be 
printed  many  years  after  his  death  ;  and  so  many  candidate* 


THE  EDUCATION  OP  AAEON  BURR       6i 

for  the  ministry  repaired  to  him  for  instruction  in  divinity 
that  his  house  assumed  something  of  the  importance  of  a  theo 
logical  seminary.  To  this  learned  and  famous  doctor,  young 
Burr  addressed  himself,  and  requested  permission  to  reside  in 
his  school  while  he  was  employed  in  the  study  of  theology, 
With  the  joyful  consent  of  his  guardian,  and  to  the  great  sat 
isfaction  of  Doctor  Bellamy,  Burr,  in  the  autumn  of  1773, 
went  to  live  in  the  doctor's  family,  and  entered  at  once  with 
his  usual  ardor  upon  the  investigations  he  had  proposed  to 
himself.  Doctor  Bellamy,  it  appears,  was  one  of  the  gentle 
men  who  plumed  themselves  upon  their  skill  in  the  Socratic 
or  question-asking  method  of  argumentation  in  which  Frank 
lin,  among  many  others  of  the  time,  took  great  delight.  The 
object  of  the  honest  divine  was,  as  we  said,  to  prevent  his  pu 
pils  from  taking  any  dogma  for  granted,  or  from  accepting 
their  opinions  without  consideration  from  the  lips  of  their 
teacher.  Sometimes  he  would  exchange  with  one  of  them 
the  part  of  Socrates,  himself  playing  disciple,  and  submitting 
to  as  severe  a  cojirse  of  questions  as  the  skill  of  the  young 
gentleman  enabled  him  to  devise. 

This  were  a  dangerous  game  to  play  with  a  lad  of  Burr's 
mettle.  When  both  Socrates  and  disciple  are  perfectly  agreed 
beforehand  as  to  the  conclusion  to  which  the  argument  is  to 
conduct  them;  when,  in  a  word,  the  exercise  is  merely  play, 
it  may  be  amusing  and  satisfactory.  But  when  the  disciple 
has  begun  to  suspect  that  Socrates  is  behind  the  age,  inas 
much  as  the  choice  spirits  of  the  age  are  not  at  all  of  his  way 
of  thinking,  and  when  that  disciple,  beside  being  utterly  fear 
less  of  the  consequences  of  dissent,  possessed  a  remarkable 
address  and  imperturbable  coolness  in  arranging  his  questions; 
in  such  circumstances,  Socrates  is  likely  to  lose  a  pupil.  Be 
tween  Dr,  Bellamy  and  Aaron  Burr,  precisely  the  same  catas 
trophe  occurred  as  came  to  pass  a  year  or  two  later  in  Ger 
many  between  young  Jean  Paui  and  the  Conrector  of  the  Hof 
Gymnasium. 

The  zealous  conrector,  as  we  read  in  Carlyle's  exquisite 
Article  upon  Jean  Paul,  desirous  to  render  his  school  as  much 
ike  a  university  as  possible,  had  public  disputations  in  tbe 


«?  LIPEOPAAKONBUEK, 

school  occasionally.  "  By  ill-luck  one  day,  the  worthy  presi 
dent  had  selected  some  church-article  for  the  theme  of  such  a 
disputation ;  one  boy  was  to  defend,  and  it  fell  to  Paul's  lot  to 
impu-gn  the  dogma ;  a  task  he  was  very  specially  qualified  to 
undertake.  Now,  honest  Paul  knew  nothing  of  the  limits  of 
Uiis  game ;  never  dreamt  but  he  might  argue  with  his  whole 
strength,  to  whatever  results  it  might  lead.  In  a  few  rounds, 
accordingly,  his  antagonist  was  borne  out  of  the  ring,  as  good 
as  lifeless ;  and  the  conrector  himself,  seeing  the  danger,  had, 
as  it  were,  to  descend  from  his  presiding  chair,  and  clap  the 
gauntlets  on  his  own  more  experienced  hands.  But  Paul, 
nothing  daunted,  gave  him  also  a  Roland  for  an  Oliver ;  nay, 
as  it  became  more  and  more  manifest  to  all  eyes,  was  fast  re 
ducing  him  also  to  the  frightful  lest  extremity.  The  conrec- 
tor's  tongue  threatened  cleaving  to  the  roof  of  his  mouth,  for 
his  brain  was  at  a  stand,  or  whirling  in  eddies,  only  his  gall 
was  in  active  play.  Nothing  remained  for  him  but  to  close 
the  debate  abruptly  by  a  '  Silence,  sirrah,  and  leave  the 
room.'' " 

All  over  the  world,  in  that  century  of  skepticism,  similar 
ticenes  were  transpiring.  At  Oxford,  in  England,  as  Bentham 
records,  "  infidelity"  was  the  fashion  ;  there  were  Atheist's 
clubs  in  the  university.  A  few  years  later,  a  similar  state  of 
things  existed  at  Yale,  which  required  all  the  eloquence  and 
tact  of  the  able  President  Dwight  to  suppress. 

A  few  months'  residence  with  Dr.  Bellamy  sufficed  for  Burr, 
We  soon  find  him  writing  to  his  friend  Ogden,  at  Elizabeth- 
town,  that  he  had  the  good  old  doctor  completely  under  his 
thumb!  Ogden  replies  that  he  is  glad  to  hear  it;  and  pro 
ceeds  to  give  Burr  the  gossip  of  the  fashionable  society  at 
New  York.  In  the  summer  of  1774,  Burr  left  Dr.  Bellamy 
vith  the  conviction,  to  use  his  own  language,  that/'  the  road 
*o  heaven  was  open  to  all  alike."  In  other  words,  he  rejected 
,he  gospel,  according  to  Jonathan  Edwards  ;  /ejected  it,  as  he 
always  maintained,  after  a  calm  and  full  investigation ;  rejected 
it  completely  and  for  ever.  To  the  close  of  his  life,  he  avoided 
disputes  upon  questions  of  religion ;  and  when,  on  one  or  vtvtf 
occasions  only,  he  was  drawn  into  such  a  discussion,  he  re 


THE  EDUCATION  Of  AAKCN  BURR       63 

proached  himself  for  his  folly  afterward.  Often  he  was  ad 
dressed  by  relatives,  anxious  to  see  him  treading  in  the  foot- 
Bteps  of  his  father.  Often  letters  were  sent  him,  warning  him 
to  repent.  He  neither  resented  nor  regarded  these  well- 
meant  endeavors  ;  but  waived  them  aside  with  good-humored 
grace,  and  sometimes  even  with  tenderness. 

The  gospel  which  the  young  man  accepted,  lived  by  and 
died  in,  was  the  gospel  according  to  Philip  Dormer  Stanhope; 
Lord  Chesterfield ;  which,  from  Burr's  day  to  this,  has  been 
cultivated  Young  America's  usual  poor  recoil  from  the  Puri 
tanism  of  its  childhood.  Chesterfield  himself  was  not  a  more 
consummate  Chesterfieldian  than  Aaron  Burr.  The  intrepid 
ity,  the  self-possession,  the  consideration  for  others,  the  pur 
suit  of  knowledge,  which  Chesterfield  commends,  were  all 
illustrated  in  the  character  of  the  young  American,  who  also 
availed  himself  of  the  license  which  that  perfect  man  of  the 
world  allowed  himself,  and  recommended  to  his  son. 

The  summer  of  1774  Burr  spent  at  Litchfield,  Connecticut, 
at  the  house  of  Mr.  Tappan  Reeve,  his  brother-in-law.  He 
had  decided  to  study  law,  but,  in  no  haste  to  begin,  he  passed 
some  months  in  reading,  riding,  hunting,  and  flirting.  Already, 
he  possessed  that  power  of  pleasing  the  fair  for  which  he  was 
afterward  noted,  and  already  officious  relations  began  to 
speculate  upon  him  as  a  subject  for  matrimony.  Uncle  Thad- 
deus  Burr,  as  we  learn  from  one  of  Aaron's  letters,  had  his  eye 
upon  a  young  lady,  whose  person  and  fortune  he  was  fond  of 
extolling  in  his  handsome  nephew's  hearing.  But  the  nephew 
was  deaf  and  dumb  on  those  occasions,  and  resolved,  at  length, 
to  be  round  with  Uncle  Thaddeus,  when  next  he  should  indulge 
in  these  broad  hints.  At  the  same  time,  the  young  beau  was 
all  gallantry  to  the  ladies,  who  evidently  occupied  themselves 
more  than  a  little  in  gossiping  about  him ;  but  he  seems  to 
have  distributed  his  attentions  so  equally  among  them  all,  that 
no  two  people  could  agree  on  the  same  lady  to  tease  him  with. 
One  lady,  he  tells  his  friend  Ogden,  had  actually  made  love  to 
him,  which,  he  says,  made  nim  feel  foolish  enough.  His  let 
ters,  after  leaving  Dr.  Bellamy  and  theology,  contain  very 
frequent  allusions  to  'the  ghls.'  They  were  evidently,  during 


84  LIFE     OP     AARON     BURR. 

the  leisure  months  of  1774,  the  chief  subject  of  his  thoughts 
and  one  of  the  most  frequent  objects  of  his  attention. 

Now,  too,  his  instinctive  love  of  intrigue  began  to  exhibit 
itself.  A  friend  of  his  received  a  letter  from  a  young  female 
relative,  which  Burr,  for  a  joke,  offered  to  answer,  and  did  an- 
Bwer,  in  the  name  of  his  friend.  He  carried  on  a  correspond 
ence  with  the  girl  in  this  way,  but,  as  he  told  Ogden,  avoided 
scrupulously  to  draw  from  her  any  thing  she  would  choose 
he  should  not  know.  "  I  would  suffer  crucifixion,"  he  said, 
"rather  than  be  guilty  of  such  unparalleled  meanness."  A 
horror  of  meanness  is  frequently  expressed  in  Burr's  early  let 
ters.  "  My  idea  of  a  devil,"  he  once  observed,  "  is  composed 
more  of  malice  than  of  meanness."  There  are  hints  of  other 
intrigues  with  fair  ladies  in  these  joyous  letters,  but  so  vaguely 
expressed  as  to  convey  no  information  to  the  reader. 

The  impression  left  on  the  mind  of  any  candid  reader  of 
Burr's  correspondence  at  this  period,  is  favorable  to  him.  A 
gay,  handsome,  innocent,  honorable,  rollicking  young  man, 
high-spirited,  fond  of  the  girls,  an  enthusiastic  friend,  an  intel 
ligent  reader,  and  an  independent  thinker.  Every  body  liked 
him,  and  many  predicted  his  future  eminence.  Of  his  own  im 
mediate  circle  of  friends,  he  was  the  youngest,  but  it  is  evident 
that  they  all  unconsciously  regarded  him  as  a  kind  of  chief. 
They  speak  of  his  generous  heart,  and  his  excellent  judgment, 
and  betray  in  all  their  letters  to  him  a  friendship  of  the  warm 
est  character. 

As  the  winter  of  1774  drew  on,  these  happy  young  men 
were  drawn  from  the  light  pursuits  proper  to  their  age  by  the 
portentous  aspect  now  assumed  by  the  quarrel  between  the 
colonies  and  the  mother  country.  New  England  was  alive 
with  excitement.  Her  younger  spirits,  so  far  from  fearing, 
had  begun  to  desire  a  conflict  with  the  royal  troops.  Burr 
and  his  set  had  been  ardent  Whigs  from  the  beginning  of  the 
dispute.  They  had  studied  the  subject  together,  and  Burr,  it 
particular,  had  made  himself  master  of  the  law  of  the  case, 
and  renewed  with  enthusiasm  the  military  studies  which  had 
always  interested  him.  As  early  as  August,  1774,  we  find  him 
eager  for  the  fray.  A  mob  had  torn  down  the  house  of  a  man 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  A  AEON  BUBR.      65 

inspected  of  being  unfriendly  to  the  liberties  of  the  people, 
and  the  sheriff,  who  had  arrested  eight  of  the  ringleaders 
brought  them  to  Litchfield,  where  Burr  was.  The  next  day, 
fifty  horsemen,  each  armed  with  a  white  club,  marched  into 
Litchfield  to  rescue  the  prisoners,  and  Burr  sallied  forth  to 
join  in  the  threatened  contest.  But,  to  his  boundless  disgust, 
the  horsemen  could  not  be  induced  to  make  the  attempt,  and 
to  crown  the  infamy  of  the  occasion,  he  says,  "  the  above  men 
tioned  sneaks  all  gave  bonds  for  their  appearance  to  stand  a 
trial  at  the  next  court  for  committing  a  riot."  From  the  man 
ner  in  which  Burr  narrates  this  incident,  it  is  certain  that  he 
was  ready  for  the  great  fight,  eight  months  before  the  first 
blood  was  shed. 

In  those  months,  he  began  the  study  of  the  law  under  Mr. 
Tappan  Reeve,  at  Litchfield,  and  had  made  some  slight  prog 
ress  therein  when^the  news  of  LEXINGTON,  the  news  that 
blood  had  been  shed,  electrified  the  thirteen  colonies,  and 
summoned  to  arms  their  gaUant  spirits  of  every  degree. 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE    VOLUNTEER. 

QUALIFICATION  AS  A  SOLDIER  —  JOINS  THUS  ARMY  AROVXO  BOSTON  —  Araourii 
EXPEDITION  TO  QUEBEC  —  BITER'S  SECRET  MISSION  FROM  AANOLD  TO  MONTGOMKBI 
—  APPOINTED  AID  TO  GENERAL  MONTGOMERY  —  THE  AJOCAULT  UPON  QUEBBO— 
CAPTAIN  BTTRR  BEARS  OFF  THE  BODY  OF  HIS  GENERAL—  APTOINTHD  AID  TO  GENERAL 
WASHINGTON  —  EEASONS  OF  HIS  DISCONTENT  IN  TH 


As  one  who  had  been  waiting  for  the  signal,  this  young 
Btudent-at-law  threw  aside  his  books,  and  seized  the  sword,  on 
fire  to  join  the  patriot  forces  gathered  around  glorious  Boston. 

He  felt  that  he  was  formed  to  excel  as  a  soldier.  A  mere 
stripling  in  appearance,  with  a  stature  of  five  feet  six  inches,  a 
slender  form,  and  a  youthful  face,  he  yet  possessed  a  power 
of  prolonged  exertion,  and  a  capacity  for  enduring  privation, 
that  were  wonderful  in  a  youth  of  nineteen.  His  courage 
was  perfect  —  he  never  knew  fear  ;  even  his  nerves  could  not 
be  startled  by  any  kind  of  sudden  horror.  He  was  a  good 
horseman,  a  good  helmsman,  a  tolerable  fencer,  and  a  decent 
shot.  Moreover,  he  loved  the  military  art  ;  knew  all  of  it 
that  could  be  learned  from  books,  and  more  highly  prized  the 
soldier's  glory  than  that  of  any  other  pursuit.  To  these  quali 
ties  he  added  a  mind  cultivated  and  most  fertile  in  those  sug 
gestions  for  which  the  exigencies  of  war  furnish  such  frequent 
occasions.-  And  with  all  his  power  to  win  the  confiding  love 
of  equals  and  inferiors,  men  saw  in  his  face  and  bearing  what 
Kent  loved  in  Lear,  authority  ! 

No  period  of  Aaron  Burr's  life  is  better  known  than  the 
time  he  spent  in  the  revolutionary  army.  Two  or  three  times, 
in  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  he  was  a  claimant  under  the  pen 
sion  and  compensation  acts  passed  for  the  benefit  of  the  sol 
diers  of  the  Revolution  ;  and,  to  substantiate  his  claim,  his  fcl 
low-soldiers  gave  written  and  sworn  testimony  respecting  ^ 


THE     VOLUNTEER.  67 

lervices,  some  of  them  narrating,  with  great  particularity, 
exploits  of  his  which  they  had  themselves  witnessed.  Much 
of  this  evidence  was  given  by  persons  well  known  for  their 
public  services,  and  of  veracity  beyond  question.  The  num 
ber,  the  coincidence,  and  the  enthusiasm  of  these  depositions, 
place  the  essential  truth  of  their  statements  beyond  reasonable 
doubt.  Burr,  too,  in  his  old  age,  loved  to  talk  over  those  bright 
years  of  his  youth,  and  some  of  the  incidents  about  to  be  re 
lated  were  derived  directly  from  friends  of  the  old  soldier,  to 
whom  he  used  to  tell  them.  He  was  proud  of  his  military  career.  \ 
What  he  achieved  in  law  and  in  politics  were  as  nothing  in  -V 
his  eyes  in  comparison  with  his  deeds  as  a  soldier  of  the  revo 
lutionary  army. 

On  hearing  of  the  battle  of  Lexington,  he  wrote  imme 
diately  to  his  friend  jOgd en,  urging  him  to  come  with  all  possi 
ble  rapidity  to  Litchfield,  and  they  would  then  together  start 
for  the  scene  of  war.  But  Ogden  replied  that  he  could  not 
in  such  haste  make  preparations  to  leave  home.  Burr  wrote 
regain.  While  Ogden  seemed  still  undecided,  came  the  most 
thrilling  piece  of  news  that  breath  ever  uttered  on  this  conti 
nent — the  news  that  a  thousand  of  the  flower  of  the  British 
army  had  fallen  on  Bunker  Hill  under  the  fire  of  a  band  of 
rustic  patriots.  Burr  could  bear  inactivity  no  longer.  He 
mounted  his  horse,  and  rode  in  hot  haste  to  Elizabethtown  ; 
there  aided  Ogden  in  his  preparations  for  a  campaign  ;  and 
the  two  friends  then  made  their  way  to  the  camp  near  Boston. 
They  arrived  in  July,  1775,  only  a  few  days  after  General 
Washington  had  taken  the  command. 

The  scene  presented  to  the  eyes  of  the  command  er-in-chief 
on  his  arrival  at  Cambridge  has  been  too  often  described  to 
require  more  than  an  allusion  here.  In  the  various  camps 
and  posts  around  the  city,  there  were  seventeen  thousand 
half-armed,  ill-clad,  undisciplined,  and  unorganized  troops, 
commanded  by  officers  who  were  either  ignorant  of  their  duty, 
or  reluctant  to  give  offense  by  performing  it.  The  health  of 
the  men  was  endangered  by  the  want  of  a  camp  police  to  en 
force  the  regulations,  without  which  large  bodies  of  men  can 
ftot  exist  together.  Burr  was  not  prepared  for  such  a  sceD« 


58  LIFE     OF     AARON     BUEB. 

of  disorder,  and  still  less  for  the  inactivity  to  which  this  mot 
ley  host  was  condemned.  He,  and  thousands  of  others,  had 
rushed  to  the  seat  of  war  in  the  hope  that  Lexington  and 
Bunker  Hill  were  to  be  followed  up  by  affairs  still  more  deci 
sive  ;  and  this  nameless  boy,  of  course,  caught  no  whisper 
of  the  dreadful  secret,  confided  only  to  general  officers,  that 
there  was  not  powder  enough  in  the  whole  army  to  fight  an 
other  Bunker  Hill,  if  the  occasion  should  arise.  As  the  youth 
wandered  from  camp  to  camp,  he  became  a  prey  to  disappoint 
ment,  mortification,  and  disgust ;  and,  after  passing  a  month 
of  this  most  wearisome  idleness,  he  actually  fretted  himself 
into  a  kind  of  intermittent  fever,  and  was  confined  for  several 
days  sick  in  body  and  in  mind. 

One  day,  as  he  was  tossing  in  his  bed,  he  overheard  Ogden 
and  others  talking  in  the  next  room  of  an  expedition  that  was 
on  foot.  He  called  Ogden  to  his  bedside,  and  asked  what 
expedition  it  was  of  which  they  had  been  talking.  Ogden 
replied,  that  Colonel  Arnold  was  about  to  march  with  a  thou 
sand  volunteers  through  the  forests  of  Maine  to  attack  Que 
bec,  and  thus  complete  the  conquest  of  Canada  so  gloriously 
begun  by  General  Montgomery,  who  was  already  master  of 
Montreal.  Instantly  Burr  sat  up  in  bed,  and  declared  his  de- 
te^mination  to  join  the  expedition  ;  and,  quietly  disregarding 
Ogden's  remonstrances,  began,  enfeebled  as  he  was,  to  dress 
himself.  All  his  friends  in  the  army  were  aghast  at  his  reso 
lution.  But  no  argument  and  no  persuasion  could  move  him 
when  his  mind  was  made  up.  Go  he  would,  under  the 
stimulus  of  a  congenial  object,  his  health  improved,  and  in  a 
very  few  days  he  was  ready  to  proceed  to  the  rendezvous  at 
Newburyport,  distant  thirty  miles  from  Boston.  Ogden  and 
others  of  Burr's  acquaintance  were  conveyed  to  Newburyport 
in  carriages  ;  but  Burr,  accompanied  by  four  or  five  stout  fel 
ows  whom  he  had  equipped  at  his  own  expense,  shouldered 
his  knapsack  and  marched  the  whole  distance. 

In  the  mean  time,  his  Uncle  Timothy  had  heard  of  his  un 
manageable  ward's  intention,  and  loving  the  lad  none  the  less  fo* 
Ihe  trouble  he  had  given  him,  dispatched  a  messenger,  post 
jaste,  U  bring  the  fugitive  back,  peaceably  if  he  could,  forciblj 


THE     VOLUNTEEB.  69 

i  he  must.  The  messenger  conveyed  to  Burr  a  letter  from 
nis  uncle  commanding  his  return,  and  a  whole  budget  of  epis- 
Mes  from  other  friends,  setting  forth  the  horror  of  the  contem 
plated  march,  and  imploring  him  to  give  it  up.  "  You  will 
die,"  wrote  a  young  physician  of  his  acquaintance,  "  I  know 
you  will  die  in  the  undertaking  ;  it  is  impossible  for  you  to  en 
dure  the  fatigue."  Upon  reading  his  uncle's  peremptory  let 
ter,  he  looked  coolly  up  at  the  messenger,  and  said :  "  Suppose 
I  refuse  to  go,  how  do  you  expect  to  take  me  back?  If  yon 
were  to  attempt  it  by  force,  I  would  have  you  hung  up  in  ten 
minutes."  The  messenger  paused  a  moment ;  then  gave  him 
a  second  letter  from  his  uncle,  upon  opening  which  Burr  dis 
covered  a  remittance  in  gold.  In  this  letter  his  uncle  used 
entreaties  only.  It  was  full  of  the  most  affectionate  and  en 
dearing  expressions,  depicted  the  inevitable  miseries  of  such 
a  march,  and  the  grief  that  would  afflict  his  family  if  he  should 
fall.  Burr  was  moved — his  feelings,  but  not  his  resolution. 
Tears  filled  his  eyes  as  he  read  this  letter,  but  he  could  not 
now  retire  from  a  scheme  in  which  his  heart,  and,  as  he  sup 
posed,  hi?  Lonor,  was  embarked.  He  told  his  uncle  so  in  re- 
epectfu.  and  tender  language,  thanking  him  for  the  care  ha 
had  taken  of  his  childhood,  and  explaining  why  he  could  npt 
in  this  instance  comply  with  his  desire.  The  messenger  de 
parted,  and  the  young  soldier  rushed  upon  his  destiny. 

On  the  20th  of  September,  the  troops,  eleven  hundred  in 
number,  embarked  at  Newburyport,  in  eleven  transports  ;  and, 
sailing  to  the  mouth  of  the  Kennebec,  found  provided  for 
them  there,  two  hundred  light  batteaux,  suitable  for  ascend 
ing  the  river.  In  a  few  days  the  little  army  had  gone  by  the 
last  outpost  of  civilization,  and  was  working  its  way  through 
a  wilderness  of  which  enough  still  exists  to  show  the  adven 
turous  tourist  what  it  must  have  been  before  the  foot  of  civil 
ized  man  had  trodden  it.  It  was  a  wonderful,  an  unparalleled 
march ;  one  that  American  troops,  native  to  the  wilderness, 
alone  could  have  achieved.  For  thirty-two  days  they  saw  no 
brace  of  the  presence  of  human  beings.  Not  once  or  twice 
merely,  but  thirty  times,  or  "more,  the  boats,  with  all  their  con 
vents,  ammunition,  provisions,  and  sicK  men,  had  to  be  carried 


70  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

by  main  strength,  around  rapids  and  falls,  over  high  and  pro 
uipitous  hills,  across  wide  marshes — until,  after  toil,  under 
which  a  tenth  of  the  army  sank,  and  from  which  another  tenth 
ran  away,  the  boats  were  launched  into  the  Dead  river,  where 
a  sudden  flood  dashed  to  pieces  many  of  the  boats,  and  de 
stroyed  one  half  of  the  provisions.  Then,  all  the  horrors  of 
starvation  threatened  the  devoted  band.  In  a  few  days  more, 
fLey  were  reduced  to  live  upon  dogs  and  reptiles;  and,  at 
length,  to  devour  the  leather  of  their  shoes  and  cartridge- 
boxes,  and  any  thing,  however  loathsome,  which  contained 
the  smallest  nutriment.  It  was  fifty  days  after  leaving  New- 
buryport,  before  Arnold,  with  the  loss  of  exactly  half  ftis 
force,  saw  the  heights  of  Quebec.  He  had  brought  his  gallant 
army  six  hundred  miles  through  a  hideous  wilderness. 

The  student,  bred  in  comparative  luxury,  who  had  come 
from  a  sick  bed  to  encounter  these  fatigues  and  privations, 
bore  them  as  well  as  any  man  of  his  party.  During  the  first 
days  in  the  wilderness,  the  weather  was  the  most  delightful  of 
the  Indian  summer,  and  Burr,  with  his  friends  Ogden,  Wil 
kinson,  Samuel  Spring  (chaplain  to  the  corps),  Dearborn, 
Ward,  and  others,  sped  along  through  the  woods,  abreast  of 
the  boats,  merrily  enough.  Before  the  rains  set  in,  and  the 
provisions  ran  low,  he  had  more  than  regained  his  wonted 
vigor ;  and  in  the  trying  time  that  succeeded,  his  habit  ac 
quired  in  college,  of  living  upon  a  very  small  quantity  of  food, 
Btood  him  in  goof  «tead.  His  hardihood  and  quick  helpful- 
ness  attracted  general  admiration  among  the  troops.  His  skill 
in  the  management  of  a  boat  was  particularly  useful  in  shoot 
ing  the  rapids,  and  he  was  often  the  helmsman  of  the  boat  in 
the  van  of  his  division.  All  his  vigilance,  however,  did  not 
jave  him,  one  bitterly  cold  day,  from  a  sad  mishap.  He  was 
•unning  some  rapids  in  the  Dead  river,  when  he  observed  the 
men  on  shore  making  violent  gestures,  but  for  what  purpose, 
neither  he  nor  his  crew  could  divine.  In  a  few  minutes  the 
rapids  became  swifter,  and  the  boat  was  precipitated  over  a 
fell  twenty  feet  high.  One  poor  fellow  was  drowned,  half  the 
baggage  was  lost,  and  Burr  himself  reached  the  shore  only 
vith  the  greatest  difficulty.  In  all  ways,  on  this  terrible  ex 


THE     VOLUNTEER.  71 

^edition,  as  his  companions  for  fifty  years  afterward  were  at  all 
times  delighted  to  testify,  he  bore  himself  like  a  man,  a  sol 
dier,  and  a  true  comrade.  It  was  very  hard  to  make  any  man 
think  ill  of  Aaron  Burr  who  was  with  him  then. 

Colonel  Arnold,  the  commander  of  the  expedition,  gave  him 
a  proof  of  his  confidence  by  intrusting  him  with  a  mission  of 
great  difficulty.  As  the  force  approached  Quebec,  it  became 
a  matter  of  the  first  importance  to  communicate  with  General 
Montgomery  at  Montreal ;  particularly  as  Arnold's  diminished 
numbers  might  render  it  impossible  for  him  to  act  against  the 
place  without  the  general's  cooperation.  To  Burr  was  con 
fided  the  task  of  conveying,  alone,  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  through  an  enemy's  country,  a  verbal  message  from 
Arnold,  informing  Montgomery  of  his  arrival,  and  of  his 
plans. 

In  performing  this  duty,  the  young  soldier  gave  the  first 
striking  proof  of  his  tact  and  address.  Knowing  that  the 
French  population  had  never  become  reconciled  to  British 
rule,  and  that  the  Catholic  clergy  especially  abhorred  it,  he 
assumed  the  garb  and  bearing  of  a  young  priest,  and  went 
directly  to  a  religious  house  near  the  camp,  and  sought  an 
interview  with  its  chief.  Burr's  Latin  was  still  fresh  in  his 
memory ;  and  as  he  luckily  knew  French  enough  to  enable  him 
to  pronounce  Latin  in  the  French  manner,  he  had  little  diffi 
culty  in  conversing  with  the  venerable  priest,  to  whose  presence 
he  was  conducted.  A  few  minutes  sufficed  to  show  the  young 
diplomatist  that  he  had  found  the  man  he  had  need  of,  and  he 
at  once  frankly  avowed  his  real  character,  and  asked  the  aid  of 
the  clerical  order  in  the  prosecution  of  his  journey.  The  priest 
gazed  at  the  stripling  with  astonishment.  He  thought  him  a 
boy,  and  told  him  it  was  impossible  for  one  of  his  tender  yeara 
to  perform  a  journey  so  long  and  so  beset  with  danger.  Find 
ing  that  the  purpose  of  the  young  gentleman  was  irrevocable, 
and  that  he  was  more  of  a  man  than  his  appearance  betokened, 
he  gave  him  a  trusty  guide,  and  one  of  the  rude  carriages  of 
the  country.  From  one  religious  family  to  another  the  guide 
convej  ed  him  in  perfect  safety,  and  with  such  comfort  as  made 
,he  journej  seem  a  holiday  excursion  compared  with  the  recent 


72  LIFE    OF    AARON     BUB  B. 

march  through  the  wilderness.  Only  once  was  his  progress 
interrupted.  At  Three  Rivers  the  guide  found  the  people 
excited  by  rumors  of  Arnold's  arrival,  and  the  authorities  on 
the  alert  to  prevent  communication  between  the  two  American 
commanders.  The  guide,  aware  that  his  neck  was  in  danger, 
refused  to  proceed  further,  and  urged  Burr  to  lay  by  till  tha 
excitement  had  in  some  degree  subsided.  Concluding  that  ta 
be  the  most  prudent  course,  he  was  concealed  for  three  day% 
in  the  convent  at  Three  Rivers ;  at  the  expiration  of  which 
the  guide  was  willing  to  go  forward.  They  reached  Mon 
treal  without  further  detention  or  alarm.  Burr  repaired  ak 
once  to  Montgomery's  head-quarters,  gave  the  informatiot 
with  which  he  was  charged,  and  narrated  his  adventures 
That  gallant  and  princely  Irishman  was  so  charmed  witt 
Burr's  address  and  daring,  that  he  requested  him,  on  the  spot- 
to  accept  a  place  on  his  staff.  A  few  days  after,  Burr  wa* 
formally  announced  as  the  general's  aid-de-camp,  with  the 
rank  of  captain. 

It  was  now  near  the  end  of  November,  the  ground  was 
covered  with  snow,  and  the  severe  ^stuadian  winter  had  set  in 
with  its  usual  rigor.  But  Montgomery,  without  a  moment's 
hesitation,  and  with  only  the  delay  necessary  for  preparation, 
put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  force  of  three  hundred  men,  and 
marched,  through  a  succession  ol  blinding  snow  storms,  t6 
join  Arnold's  troops  who  were  shivering  under  the  heights  of 
Quebec.  Arnold  had  already  made  an  attempt  upon  the  city, 
and  might  have  carried  it  and  won  undying  honors,  and  turned 
the  course  of  revolutionary  history,  but  for  the  treason  of  an 
Indian  to  whom  he  had  given  letters  for  General  Schuyler, 
but  who  conveyed  them  and  news  of  the  expedition,  to  the 
British  commandant! 

Soon  after  Montgomery's  arrival,  a  council  of  war  was  held, 
at  which  Burr  and  Ogden  were  both  present,  and  it  was  de 
termined  to  make  an  attempt  to  take  the  place  by  assault.  To 
Captain  Burr,  at  his  own  request,  was  assigned  the  command 
of  a  forlorn  hope  of  forty  men,  whom  he  forthwith  selected, 
End  began  to  drill.  He  caused  ladders  to  be  made,  and  exer 
used  his  men  in  using  them,  until,  burdened  with  all  their 


THE    VOLUNTEER.  78 

equipments,  they  could  mount  the  ladders  with  great  agility 
in  the  darkest  night.  During  those  two  weeks  of  preparation, 
he  was  all  activity.  His  soul  was  in  arms.  Every  night,  when 
all  but  the  sentinels  slept,  he  was  under  those  heights  where  so 
much  glory  has  been  won,  familiarizing  his  eye  with  every 
feature  of  the  scene,  and  weighing  all  the  obstacles  to  the 
ascent.  Upon  the  plan  of  assault  originally  proposed,  parts  of 
which  Burr  had  himself  suggested,  and  for  the  execution  of 
which  he  had  made  his  surveys  and  preparations,  he  felt  con 
fident  of  success.  But  at  a  late  day,  that  plan,  for  reasons  not 
certainly  known,  was  changed  ;  a  circumstance  to  which  Burr 
always  attributed  the  disastrous  failure  of  the  assault. 

The  attack,  it  was  agreed  at  the  council  of  war,  should 
take  place  at  night,  and  in  a  snow-storm.  By  the  20th  of 
December  the  preparations  were  complete,  and  nightly  the 
little  army  awaited  the  signal,  and  the  sentinel  watched  the 
heavens  for  signs  of  the  gathering  storm.  The  weather  was 
bitterly  cold ;  the  small-pox  was  making  fearful  ravages  among 
the  troops;  there  was  no  hope  of  an  alleviation  to  their  suffer 
ings  but  in  capturing  the  fortress-crowned  heights  above 
them.  The  last  night  of  the  year  1775  had  come,  and  a  bril 
liant  moon,  when  the  patriot  army  retired  to  rest,  was  flood 
ing  with  light  the  fields  of  snow,  the  ice-batteries,  the  town, 
and  the  lofty  citadel.  No  one  expected  to  be  aroused  that 
night  by  the  familiar  signal.  But,  at  midnight,  the  heavens 
became  suddenly  overcast,  and  a  north-easterly  snow-storm,  of 
unusual  violence,  came  driving  over  the  scene.  The  genera/ 
was  roused.  At  a  glance  he  saw  that  the  hour  had  come,  and 
gave  the  order  for  the  troops  to  get  under  arms.  Burr  as 
sisted  in  communicating  the  order  to  the  divisions,  and  soon 
had  his  storming-party  in  readiness  to  move.  By  personal  in 
gpection,  by  the  touch  of  his  own  hand,  he  assured  himself 
that  the  men  under  his  immediate  direction  were  equipped  as 
he  had  determined  they  should  be  on  the  decisive  night.  By 
two  o'clock  the  men  had  been  carefully  inspected,  and  were 
ready  to  march  to  the  points  whence  they  were  to  assault  the 
town.  About  nine  hundred  men  answered  to  their  names 
that  morning  The}  were  divided  into  four  partiesa  only  two 

4 


f4  LIFE     OP    AARON     BURR. 

of  which  were  designed  to  fight ;  the  others  were  to  distract 
the  garrison  by  feints  at  places  remote  from,  the  scene  of  se 
rious  attack.  One  of  the  figting-parties  was  led  by  Arnold 
the  other,  in  spite  of  the  remonstrances  of  Burr  and  others  oi 
the  general's  family,  was  commanded  by  Montgomery,  whose 
towering  form  appeared  at  the  head  of  the  column.  At  four 
o'clock,  the  divisions  had  reached  their  designated  posts.  At 
five  the  signal  of  attack  was  given,  and  the  chilled  soldiery 
impatient  to  move,  began  the  ascent  through  the  snow-drifts, 
and  in  the  teeth  of  the  storm. 

Captain  Burr  marched  side  by  side  with  his  genera]  at  the 
head  of  the  division,  as  it  hurried  along  the  St.  Lawrence  to 
the  defenses  under  Cape  Diamond.  These  were  well  known 
to  the  vigilant  aid- de-camp.  First,  the  attacking  party  came 
upon  a  row  of  pickets,  which  the  general,  with  his  own  hands, 
assisted  to  cut  away.  Pushing  on  through  the  snow  and 
darkness,  they  reached,  a  few  paces  beyond,  a  second  row  of 
pickets,  behind  which  was  a  square,  two-story  block-house, 
loop-holed  above  for  musketry,  and  pierced  below  for  two 
twelve-pounders,  which,  charged  with  grape,  commanded  the 
narrow  gorge  up  which  an  enemy  must  advance.  It  was  not 
till  the  Americans  had  begun  to  remove  the  second  row  of 
pickets,  that  the  British  guard  became  aware  of  the  presence 
of  an  enemy.  Delivering  one  ineffectual  nre,  they  fled  to  the 
block-house,  and  communicating  their  terror  to  the  party 
within,  who  were  mostly  sailors  and  militia,  the  whole  body 
fled  without  once  discharging  the  cannon.  But  their  panic, 
unfortunately,  was  not  perceived  by  the  Americans,  and  a  de 
lay,  short  but  fatal,  occurred.  Masses  of  ice,  left  on  the  win 
ter  subsidence  of  the  river,  obstructed  the  ascent,  and  several 
minutes  elapsed  before  a  sufficient  number  of  men  could  clam 
ber  over  these  and  form  within  the  second  picket  to  attack 
the  block-house.  In  smoothing  the  pathway,  the  general  him 
self  tugged  at  the  great  blocks  of  ice  with  furious  energy.  At 
length,  two  hundred  men  were  formed  in  column.  The  gen 
eral  was  at  its  head,  as  before.  Burr  was  at  his  side.  Two 
other  aids,  an  orderly  sergeant,  and  a  French  guide,  com 
D  eted  the  group  in  advance.  "Push  on,  brave  boys,  Quebec 


THE     VOLUNTEER.  76 

is  ours,"  cried  Montgomery,  as  the  column  began  to  move  up 
the  ascent.  On  they  marched  to  within  forty  paces  of  the 
block-house.  At  that  moment,  a  sailor  who  had  fled  from  his 
post,  surprised  that  the  Americans  did  not  advance,  ventured 
back  to  discover  the  reason.  Through  one  of  the  port-holes 
of  the  block-house  he  saw  the  advancing  party,  and  turned  to 
run  away  again  ;  but,  as  he  turned,  he  performed  an  act  which 
decided  the  fortunes  of  the  day,  and  gave  Canada  back  again 
to  Britain.  He  touched  off  one  of  those  grape-charged  can- 
flon. 

Forward  fell  the  majestic  form  of  Montgomery,  never  to 
rise  again.  Down  went  two  of  his  aids,  mortally  wounded. 
The  orderly  sergeant,  too,  never  saw  daylight  again.  Every 
man  that  marched  in  front  of  the  column,  except  Captain  Burr 
and  the  guide,  were  struck  down  to  death  by  the  discharge  of 
that  twelve-pounder.  The  day  was  just  dawning,  and  the  sol 
diers  were  soon  aware  of  the  whole  extent  of  the  catastrophe. 
The  column  halted  and  wavered.  The  command  fell  into 
incompetent  hands.  Priceless  minutes  were  lost  in  those  con 
mltations  by  which  cowardice  loves  to  hide  its  trepidation. 
At  that  critical  time,  when  all  but  the  staunchest  hearts  gave 
way,  Burr  was  as  cool,  as  determined,  as  eager  to  go  for 
ward,  as  at  the  most  exultant  moment  of  the  advance.  H0 
was  vehement,  almost  to  the  point  of  mutiny,  in  urging  a  re 
newal  of  the  attack.  "  When  dismay  and  consternation  uni 
versally  prevailed,"  testifies  Captain  Richard  Platt,  who  com 
manded  a  New  York  company,  among  the  most  advanced  in 
the  column  of  attack,  "  Burr  animated  the  troops,  and  made 
many  efforts  to  lead  them  on,  and  stimulated  them  to  enter 
the  lower  town ;  and  might  have  succeeded,  but  for  the  posi 
tive  order  of  the  commanding  officer  for  the  troops  to  retreat." 
There  was  small  need  of  order  to  that  effect.  The  enemy  re 
turned  to  the  block-house,  and  opened  fire  on  the  assailants, 
The  retreat  soon  became  a  precipitate  and  disorderly  flight. 

It  was  then  that  our  young  aid-de-camp  made  a  noble 
display  of  courage  and  fidelity ;  improving  the  opportunity 
which  the  brave  know  how  *o  snatch  from  tne  teeth  of  disas 
ter.  There  lay  the  body  of  his  general  in  its  snowv  shroud 


6  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

Down  the  steep,  over  the  blocks  of  ice  and  drifts  of  snow,  and 
along  the  river's  bank,  his  comrades  vere  flying  in  disgraceful 
panic.  From  the  block-house,  the  enemy  were  beginning  to 
issue  in  pursuit.  The  faithful  aid,  a  boy  in  stature,  exerting  all 
his  strength,  lifted  the  general's  superbly-proportioned  body 
upon  his  shoulders,  and  ran  with  it  down  the  gorge,  up  to  his 
knees  in  snow,  the  enemy  only  forty  paces  behind  him.  Burr's 
gallantry  on  this  occasion,  too,  had  a  witness.  Samuel  Spring, 
his  college  friend,  the  chaplain  to  the  expeditionary  force,  way 
near  the  head  of  the  assaulting  column  on  this  eventful  morn 
ing,  and  was  one  of  the  last  to  leave  the  scene  of  action.  It 
was  his  friendly  eyes  that  saw  "  little  Burr,"  in  the  snowy  dim 
ness  of  the  dawn,  hurrying  away  before  the  enemy,  and  stag 
gering  under  his  glorious  load.  The  chances  of  war  separated 
those  two  friends  there  and  then.  From  that  hour,  for  fifty 
years,  the  reverend  chaplain  never  saw  the  face  of  Aaron  Burr, 
But  the  picture  was  indelibly  imprinted  upon  his  memory,  and 
he  loved  the  lad  for  it  while  his  heart  beat ;  and  he  would  testify 
his  love,  after  that  lapse  of  time,  when  it  required  some  man 
liness  in  a  clergyman  even  to  accost  Aaron  Burr,  and  when 
Spring's  own  son,  more  worldly  wise,  besought  the  old  clergy 
man  not  to  see  the  man  who  had  "  lost  caste  /"  But  to  con 
clude  the  adventure.  "  Little  Burr"  could  not  long  sustain  the 
burden.  He  reeled  along  with  it  till  the  enemy  were  close 
behind  him ;  when,  to  avoid  capture,  he  was  compelled  to 
drop  the  body  in  the  snow  again,  and  hasten  after  the  flying 
troops. 

Burr's  behavior  on  this  decisive  day  won  him  great  distinc 
tion,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  his  fortune.  His  praises  were 
warmly  repeated  among  the  troops,  with  whom  he  had  before 
been  a  favorite.  His  extreme  youth,  his  singular  coolness  and 
tact,  the  eclat  attached  to  his  position  as  a  gentleman  volun 
teer,  his  quick  intelligence  and  courteous  manners  all  conspired 
to  win  the  regard  of  those  rustic  soldiers.  Fourteen  days 
after  the  assault,  the  news  of  its  failure  reached  the  lower 
provinces  of  New  England  and  struck  dismay  to  the  heart  of 
he  most  hopeful.  But  the  brilliant  deeds  of  valor  which  had 
toarked  the  whole  course  of  the  expedition  were  a  consolatios 


THE     Vt  LUNTEEB.  7 

to  tne  struggling  patriots,  who  listened  with  greedy  ears  U 
the  wondrous  story  ;  and  while  the  headlong  courage  and  in- 
domitable  perseverance  of  Arnold,  the  chivalric  gallantry 
of  Montgomery,  the  desperate  bravery  of  Morgan,  all  had 
their  due  of  praise  and  reward,  the  romantic  exploits  of  the 
boy  aid-de-camp  who  bore  his  general's  body  from  the  enemy's 
fire  were  not  forgotten.  Ogden,  soon  after  the  action,  went 
home  with  dispatches,  and  told  his  friends,  told  Congress,  told 
General  Washington,  of  "  little  Burr's"  bravery ;  and  back  to 
Quebec  came  a  budget  of  congratulatory  letters.  It  is  pleas 
ant  to  see  how  glad  and  proud  Burr's  young  friends  were  that 
he  had  won  distinction.  His  sister,  who  had  passed  many 
weeks  of  agonizing  suspense  without  any  news  of  him  what 
ever,  hearing  now,  at  once,  of  his  safety  and  his  glory,  was  in 
eostacies  of  pride  and  delight. 

The  American  forces  remained  about  Quebec  till  the  spring 
annoying  the  garrison  as  best  they  could,  and  not  without 
hope  of  starving  it  into  a  surrender.  Arnold,  who  had  been 
wounded  in  the  assault,  was  again  the  officer  in  command,  and 
appointed  Burr  to  the  post  of  brigade-major.  Burr,  however, 
was  not  an  admirer  of  the  turbulent  and  daring  apothecary. 
Arnold  had  an  absurd  idea  of  taunting  and  defying  the  enemy 
by  parading  the  troops  in  sight  of  the  fortress,  and  by  sending 
letters  demanding  its  surrender,  practices  most  repugnant  to 
the  practical  mind  of  Burr.  A  letter  of  this  description  Ar 
nold  desired  Major  Burr  to  convey  to  the  British  commander. 
He  demanded  to  know  its  contents,  and  upon  Arnold's  object 
ing,  offered  to  resign  his  post,  but  refused,  point-blank,  to  car- 
'y  a  letter  of  which  he  knew  not  the  purport.  Arnold  then 
showed  him  the  letter,  which  demanded  a  surrender  of  the 
fortress,  and  was  couched  in  what  Burr  deemed  most  arrogant 
and  insulting  language.  He  still  declined  to  be  the  bearer 
of  such  a  missive,  and  predicted  that  whoever  should  deliver 
it  would  meet  only  with  contempt  and  derision.  Arnold  sent 
it  by  another  officer,  who  was  treated  precisely  as  Burr  had 
Anticipated. 

In  the  spring,  the  Americans  nad  to  retreat  before  the  new 
irmy  under  Burgoyne.  They  remained  a  short  time  at 


78  LIFE     OF     AARON     BUBB. 

real,  where  Burr's  dislike  to  Arnold  increased  to  such  a  d& 
gree  that  he  determined  to  leave  him  and  seek  more  active 
service  nearer  home.  Even  on  the  march  through  the  wilder 
ness,  he  thought  Arnold  had  not  shared  the  privations  of  the 
troops  as  he  ought ;  and  now,  when  the  resources  of  a  town 
were  at  his  command,  Burr  was  thoroughly  disgusted  with  the 
general's  all-exacting  meanness.  "  Arnold,"  Burr  used  to  say, 
"  is  a  perfect  madman  in  the  excitements  of  battle,  and  is  ready 
for  any  deeds  of  valor ;  but  he  has  not  a  particle  of  moral 
courage.  He  is  utterly  unprincipled,  and  has  no  love  of  coun 
try  or  self-respect  to  guide  him.  He  is  not  to  be  trusted  any 
where  but  under  the  eye  of  a  superior." 

On  reaching  the  river  Sorel,  Major  Burr  informed  Arnold 
of  his  determination  to  leave.  Arnold,  not  in  the  best  humor, 
objected.  With  the  utmost  suavity  of  manner,  Burr  said, 

"  Sir,  I  have  a  boat  in  readiness ;  I  have  employed  four  dis 
charged  soldiers  to  row  me,  and  I  start  from  such  a  point 
(naming  it)  at  six  o'clock  to-morrow  morning." 

Whereupon  Arnold  angrily  forbade  his  departure,  and  Burr, 
in  the  blandest  tone,  reiterated  his  determination.  In  the 
morning,  as  the  young  soldier  was  about  to  step  into  his  boat, 
he  saw  Arnold  approaching. 

"  Why,  Major  Burr,  you  are  not  going?"  said  he. 

"  I  am,  sir,"  was  the  reply. 

"  But,"  said  Arnold,  "  you  know  it  is  against  my  orders." 

"I  know,"  rejoined  Burr,  "that  you  have  the  power  to 
4op  me,  but  nothing  short  of  force  shall  do  it." 

Upon  this,  Arnold  changed  his  tone,  and  tried  to  persuade  his 
efficient  brigade-major  to  remain.  In  a  few  minutes,  Burr 
stepped  into  his  boat,  wished  the  general  good-by  and  good 
fortune,  and  was  rowed  away  without  hinderance.  As  a  volun 
teer,  who  had  remained  with  the  corps  as  long  as  there  was 
danger  to  be  faced  or  fatigue  to  be  undergone,  Burr,  discip 
linarian  as  he  was,  felt  that  he  had  a  right  to  leave.  Arnold's 
unwillingness  to  let  him  go  arose  from  the  fact  that  a  compe 
tent  brigade-major  relieves  a  general  from  all  the  details  of 
command  ;  as  much  so  as  a  good  mate  the  captain  of  a  ship 
to  a  man  of  Arnold's  self-indulgent  habits,  an  officer  lik* 


THE     VOLUNTEER.  79 

Burr,  of  sleepless  vigilance,    and   of  activity   that  nothing 
could  tire,  was  a  most  important  acquisition. 

On  the  Sorel,  an  incident  occurred  which  frightened  Burr's 
oarsmen,  and  still  more  a  young  trader  with  whom  he  shared 
the  boat.  As  the  boat  rounded  a  point,  there  suddenly  came 
into  view  a  large  brick  house,  with  loopholes  for  the  discharge 
of  musketry,  and  an  Indian  warrior,  in  full  costume,  stand 
ing  at  the  door.  The  crew  were  for  instant  retreat,  but  Burr 
seeing  that  they  were  already  far  within  rifle-shot,  ordered 
them  to  go  on.  At  this,  the  passenger,  in  a  rage  of  terror,  at 
tempted  to  prevent  the  soldiers  from  rowing ;  but  Burr,  draw 
ing  a  pistol,  declared  he  would  shoot  him  if  he  interfered,  and 
directed  the  men  to  row  straight  toward  the  portentous  edifice. 

"  I  will  go  up  to  the  house,"  he  added,  "  and  we  shall  soon 
learn  who  they  are." 

Before  the  boat  reached  the  land,  the  Indians  came  swarm 
ing  from  the  house,  and  presented  an  appearance  as  alarming 
as  picturesque.  •  Burr  sprang  ashore,  walked  toward  them, 
and  soon  had  the  pleasure  of  learning  that  they  were  peace 
fully  disposed.  In  a  few  minutes  he  caused  to  be  brought  on 
shore  a  keg  of  whisky,  which  put  the  Indians  into  the  high 
est  good  humor,  and  they  parted  excellent  friends. 

On  reaching  Albany,  Burr  learned  that  his  services  in 
Canada  had  greatly  pleased  the  command er-in-chief.  Upon 
Ogden's  visit  to  Philadelphia  with  dispatches,  he  had  been  in 
formed  by  Mr.  Reed  that  there  was  a  vacancy  on  the  staff  of 
General  Washington,  to  which  he  should  be  glad  to  recom 
mend  him.  Ogden  replied,  that  he  preferred  more  active  ser 
vice,  and  proceeded  to  use  all  his  eloquence  and  interest  ic 
procuring  the  staff  appointment  for  his  friend  Burr.  To  Gen 
eral  Washington  himself  he  extolled  Burr's  gallantry  and 
talent  with  all  the  warmth  of  the  most  devoted  friendship, 
and  he  soon  had  the  delight  of  conveying  to  his  friend  a  mes 
sage  from  the  general. 

"  General  Washington,"  he  wrote,  "  desires  me  to  inform 
you  that  he  will  provide  for  you,  and  that  he  expects  you  will 
eome  to  him  immediately  and  stay  in  his  family.  You  will 


80  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

now  want  your  horse,"  added  Ogden ;  "  I  have  sold  him,  and 
spent  the  money,"  etc. 

The  letter,  of  which  this  is  a  part,  passed  Burr  on  his  way 
to  New  York ;  it  was  from  other  friends  that  he  first  heard  oi 
General  Washington's  invitation.  So  long  a  period  had  elapsed 
since  he  had  heard  from  Ogden,  that  he  began  to  think  that 
gentleman  must  have  forgotten,  amid  the  multitude  of  his  new 
friends,  the  companion,  the  brother,  of  his  youth.  And  while 
Ogden  was  exulting  at  the  success  of  his  friendly  endeavors, 
Burr  was  lamenting  his  apparent  faithlessness  and  neglect. 
He  wrote  him  a  letter,  upbraiding  him  in  terms  amusing  for 
their  young-manish  severity  and  loftiness.  He  dealt  JRomanly 
with  him. 

"  There  is  in  man?  said  Burr,  "  a  certain  love  of  novelty ; 
a  fondness  of  variety  (useful  within  proper  limits),  which  in* 
fluences  more  or  less  in  almost  every  act  of  life.  New  views, 
new  laws,  new  friends,  have  each  their  charm.  Truly  great 
must  be  the  soul,  and  firm  almost  beyond  the  weakness  of 
humanity,  that  can  withstand  the  smiles  of  fortune.  Success, 
promotion,  the  caresses  of  the  great,  and  the  flatteries  of  the 
low,  are  sometimes  fatal  to  the  noblest  minds.  The  volatile 
become  an  easy  prey.  The  fickle  heart,  tiptoe  with  joy,  a§ 
from  an  eminence,  views  with  contempt  its  former  joys,  con- 
nections,  and  pursuits.  A  new  taste  contracted,  seeks  com 
panions  suited  to  itself.  But  pleasures  easiest  tasted,  though 
perhaps  at  first  of  higher  glee,  are  soonest  past,  and,  the  more 
they  are  relied  upon,  leave  the  severer  sting  behind.  One 
cloudy  day  despoils  the  glow-worm  of  all  its  glitter.  Should 
fortune  ever  frown  upon  you,  Matt. ;  should  those  you  now 
call  friends  forsake  you ;  should  the  clouds  gather  force  on 
every  side,  and  threaten  to  burst  upon  you,  think  then  upon 
the  man  who  never  betrayed  you ;  rely  on  the  sincerity  you 
never  found  to  fail ;  and  if  my  heart,  my  life,  and  my  fortune 
can  assist  you,  it  is  yours." 

Upon  the  receipt  of  Ogden's  letter,  Burr  saw  his  error 
and  all  was  well  again  between  the  two  friends.  Ogden,  in 
deed,  loved  Aaron  Burr  with  an  unusual  affection.  In  thf 
letter  which  told  Burr  of  General  "Washington's  favor 


THE     VOLUNTEEB  81 

Ogden  mentioned  that  he  had  recently  gone  out  of  his  way 
in  the  hope  of  meeting  him,  and  declared  that  his  failure 
to  do  so  was  the  greatest  disappointment  he  had  ever  experi 
enced. 

In  May,  1776,  Major  Burr  reported  himself  in  New  York 
to  General  Washington,  who  at  once  invited  him  to  reside  in 
his  family  until  a  suitable  appointment  could  be  procured  for 
him.  The  commander-in-chief  was  residing  at  Richmond  Hill, 
then  about  two  miles  from  the  city,  on  the  banks  of  the  Hud 
son,  in  a  mansion  which  was  afterward  Burr's  own  country 
seat.  It  was  a  delightful  abode,  say  the  old  chroniclers ;  the 
grounds  extending  down  to  the  river,  and  the  neighborhood 
adorned  with  groves,  gardens,  ponds,  and  villas.* 

Burr,  with  alacrity,  accepted  General  Washington's  invita- 
tion,  and  went  immediately  to  reside  at  head-quarters.  For 
about  six  weeks,  he  sat  at  the  general's  table,  occasionally 
rode  out  with  him,  and  performed  some  of  the  duties  of  aid- 
de-camp.  Long  before  the  expiration  of  even  that  short 
period,  he  became  so  disgusted  with  his  situation,  that  in  one 
of  his  letters  to  Governor  Hancock,  his  own  and  his  father's 
friend,  he  talked  seriously  of  retiring  from  the  service.  Han 
cock  dissuaded  him,  and  offered  to  procure  him  the  appoint 
ment  of  aid  to  General  Putnam,  then  quartered  in  the 
city.  Burr  consented,  and  in  July  took  up  his  abode  with 
Putnam  at  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  the  Battery,  where 
also  Mrs.  Putnam  lived  and  kept  her  daughters  busy  spinning 
flax  to  help  supply  the  soldiers  with  shirts.  In  this  homely, 
noble  scene,  Burr  was  perfectly  contented ;  and  as  aid  to  the 
general  employed  in  fortifying  the  city,  he  found  the  active 
employment  he  had  desired.  "My  good  old  general,"  he 
was  wont  to  style  the  soft-hearted,  tough,  indomitable  wolf- 
killer. 

Of  the  minor  events  of  Burr's  life,  none  contributed  more 

*  The  site  of  the  old  mansion  is  now  the  corner  of  Charlton  and  Yarick 
streets.  Twenty  years  ago,  a  part  of  the  house  was  still  standing,  and  served 
tti  a  low  drinking  shop.  The  vicinity,  so  enchanting  in  Burr's  day,  presents 
at  this  time  a  dreary  scene  of  shabby  u^gentility,  as  passengers  by  the  Sixth 
Avenue  cars  have  an  opportunity  of  observing. 


82  LIFE     OP     AARON     BUBB. 

to  the  odium  which  finally  gathered  round  his  name  than 
this  ahrupt  departure  from  the  family  of  General  Washington. 
It  often  happens,  in  the  case  of  men  respecting  whom  the 
public  verdict  is,  upon  the  whole,  noi  unjust,  that  many  of  the 
specifications  in  the  charge  against  them  are  unfounded.  Good 
men,  too,  are  praised  for  more  virtues  than  they  possess.  !NTow3 
oothing  could  have  been  more  natural,  or  more  proper,  than 
Burr's  discontent  as  a  member  of  Washington's  family.  The 
nature  of  the  duties  that  devolved  upon  the  general's  aides  dur 
ing  the  whole  of  the  war,  is  well  known.  Washington,  with  the 
affairs  of  a  continent  upon  his  shoulders,  was  burdened  with  a 
prodigious  correspondence.  The  enemy  was  the  least  of  his  per 
plexities.  In  managing  and  advising  Congress,  in  getting  the 
army  organized,  in  stirring  up  the  zeal  of  the  governors  and 
legislatures  of  the  States,  in  reconciling  the  perpetual  disputes 
about  rank,  his  time  and  mind  were  chiefly  employed.  His 
aides,  no  less  than  his  secretary,  were  often  confined  to  the 
desk  more  hours  a  day  than  bank  clerks.  Burr  was  the  most 
active  of  human  beings.  He  had  just  come  from  an  expedi 
tion  which  had  tasked  all  his  powers,  and  given  him  the  taste 
of  glory.  He  was  in  the  midst  of  a  scene  calculated  to  arouse 
the  most  sluggish.  Staten  Island  was  dotted  all  over  with  the 
tents  of  the  enemy,  and  the  bay  was  whitened  with  the  sails 
of  the  most  imposing  fleet  these  shores  had  ever  beheld.  The 
patriot  force  was  straining  every  nerve  to  prepare  the  city  for 
the  expected  landing  of  the  enemy.  Ogden,  now  lieutenant- 
colonel,  with  his  regiment  of  Jerseymen,  was  in  active  service, 
and  told  Burr  he  was  going  to  do  honor  to  their  native  State. 
The  townspeople  were  in  dreadful  alarm.  When  the  British 
saluted  an  arriving  ship,  or  when  a  sloop  ran  past  General 
Putnam's  batteries,  cannonading  as  she  went,  women  and 
children,  as  Washington  himself  records,  ran  shrieking  into 
the  streets,  in  terror  of  a  bombardment.  Everywhere  were 
seen  the  sights,  and  heard  the  sounds,  that  appal  the  citizen 
and  animate  the  soldier.  It  was  in  such  circumstances,  that 
Burr,  the  electric  Burr,  the  born  soldier,  the  most  irrepressi. 
b!e  of  mortals,  found  himself  sinking  into  the  condition  of  a 
"Jerk !  The  situation  was  intolerable  to  him ;  as  it  was,  after 


THE    VOLUNTEER.  feS 

to  Hamilton,*  who  liked  the  post  of  General  Washing 
ton's  aid  little  better  than  Burr  did. 

Hamilton,  however,  learned,  as  he  grew  older,  to  value 
correctly  the  character  of  the  commander-in-chief,  and  the 
immeasurable  services  which  his  caution  and  perseverance  had 
rendered  to  his  country  and  to  man.  Burr  never  did.  The 
prejudices  against  the  general,  imbibed  during  his  short  resi 
dence  with  him  at  Richmond  Hill,  were  strengthened  by  sub 
sequent  events  into  a  settled  dislike,  which  he  carried  with 
him  through  life.  He  thought  George  Washington  was  a  bad 
general,  and  an  honest,  weak  man.  He  said  he  knew  nothing 

*  Hamilton,  in  a  letter  to  General  Schuyler,  dated  February  18th,  1781, 
gives  the  following  account  of  his  break  with  General  Washington :  "  Two 
days  ago,  the  general  and  I  passed  each  other  on  the  stairs ;  he  told  me  he 
wanted  to  speak  with  me ;  I  answered  that  I  would  v/ait  upon  him  immedi 
ate!.  I  went  below  and  delivered  Mr.  Tilghman  a  letter  to  be  sent  to  the 
commissary,  containing  an  order  of  a  pressing  and  interesting  nature.  Re 
turning  to  the  general,  I  was  stopped  on  the  way  by  the  Marquis  de  la  Fay- 
ette,  and  we  conversed  together,  about  a  minute,  on  a  matter  of  business. 
He  can  testify  how  impatient  I  was  to  get  back,  and  that  I  left  him  in  a  man 
ner  which,  but  for  our  intimacy,  would  have  been  more  than  abrupt.  In 
stead  of  finding  the  general,  as  is  usual,  in  his  room,  I  met  him  at  the  head 
of  the  stairs,  where,  accosting  me  hi  an  angry  voice,  '  Colonel  Hamilton,' 
said  he,  '  you  have  kept  me  waiting  at  the  head  of  the  stairs  these  ten  min 
utes  ;  I  must  tell  you,  sir,  you  treat  me  with  disrespect.'  I  replied,  without 
j^etulancy,  but  with  decision,  '  I  am  not  conscious  of  it,  sir,  but  since  you  have 
tiiought  it  necessary  to  tell  me  so,  we  part.'  '  Very  well,  sir,'  said  he,  '  if  it 
be  your  choice,'  or  something  to  that  effect,  and  we  separated.  I  sincerely 
believe  my  absence,  which  gave  so  much  umbrage,  did  not  last  two  minutes. 
In  less  than  an  hour  after,  Mr.  Tilghman  came  to  me,  in  the  general's  name, 
assuring  me  of  his  confidence  in  my  ability,  integrity,  usefulness,  etc.,  and  of 
his  desire,  in  a  candid  conversation,  to  heal  a  difference  which  could  not  have 
happened  but  in  a  moment  of  passion.  I  requested  Mr.  Tilghman  to  tell  him, 
first,  that  I  had  taken  my  resolution  in  a  manner  not  to  be  revoked,"  etc.,  etc. 

Hamilton  proceeds  to  say  that  he  had  long  been  discontented  with  the 
gituation  of  aid,  and  had  previously  determined  that  if  he  ever  did  have  a 
difference  with  General  Washington,  it  should  be  final.  He  then  adds: 
The  general  is  a  very  honest  man ;  his  competitors  have  slender  abilitiei 
»nd  less  integrity.  His  popularity  has  often  been  essential  to  the  safety  of 
Ajnerica,  and  is  still  of  great  importance  to  it.  These  considerations  have 
Influenced  my  past  conduct  respecting  him,  and  will  influence  my  future  :  1 
ttibk  it  necessary  he  should  be  supported." 


84  LIFE     OP     AAEON     BUBB. 

of  scientific  warfare,  and  could  therefore  give  no  instruction 
of  any  value  to  a  young  soldier  burning  to  excel  in  his  profes 
sion.  He  thought  the  general  was  as  fond  of  adulation  as  he 
was  known  to  be  sensitive  to  censure,  and  that  no  officer 
could  stand  well  with  him  who  did  not  play  the  part  of  his 
worshiper.  He  could  not  bear  near  his  person,  said  Burr,  a 
man  of  an  independent  habit  of  mind.  Washington's  want 
of  book-culture,  too,  would  naturally  surprise  a  youth  who 
was  born  and  reared  amid  books,  and  who  was,  to  the  last,  an 
eager  reader.  In  a  word,  Burr  saw  in  this  wise,  illustrious 
man,  only  the  thrifty  planter,  and  the  country  gentleman ;  a 
good  soldier  enough  in  Indian  warfare,  but  quite  at  fault  in 
the  presence  of  a  civilized  enemy. 

The  general,  on  his  part,  seems  to  have  conceived  an  ill  im 
pression  of  Burr,  but  not  the  serious  distrust  of  after  years, 
when  Burr  was  his  political  opponent.  Burr  always  asserted 
that  it  was  not  an  amour,  nor  any  thing  of  that  nature,  but 
his  independent  manner  of  enforcing  opinions,  to  which  time 
added  the  sting  of  proved  correctness,  that  made  General 
Washington  his  enemy.  Burr,  for  example,  was  one  of  a 
considerable  number  of  officers  who  thought  that  New  York 
could  not  be  held,  and  that  to  burn  and  abandon  it  was  the 
best  way  to  frustrate  the  British  commander.  No  doubt  the 
old  young-man  expressed  this  opinion  with  a  confidence  to 
which  his  age  and  his  dimensions  gave  him  no  apparent  title. 
But,  at  twenty,  "  little  Burr"  had  been  a  man  for  some  years ; 
at  least  in  confidence  in  his  own  abilities. 

In  one  word,  there  was  an  antipathy  between  the  two  men 
each  lacking  qualities  which  the  other  highly  prized;  each 
possessing  virtues  which  by  the  other  were  not  admired. 


CHAPTER     VI. 

AID- DE-CAMP    TO    GENERAL    PUTNA.M. 

fta  RETREAT  FROM  LONG  ISLAND  — BURR  SAVES  A  BRIGADE  — His  AFFAIR  WITH  Mm 
MONCBIEFFE  —  HEK  NABBATIYE. 

IT  was  the  fortune  of  Major  Burr,  while  serving  as  aid  to 
General  Putnam,  to  save  a  frightened  brigade,  and  to  win  a 
virgin  heart. 

During  the  disastrous  days  upon  Long  Island  which  pre 
ceded  the  famous  retreat  of  the  American  army,  General  Put 
nam  was  in  command,  and  his  aid-de-camp  was  in  the  thick  of 
events.  To  reach  the  scene  of  action,  and  to  begin  an  accu 
rate  survey  of  it,  were  simultaneous  occurrences  with  that 
intelligent  young  soldier.  He  rode  about  the  American  camp, 
and  visited  every  post  and  out-post.  He  informed  himself  of 
the  positions  and  strength  of  the  enemy.  He  discovered  that 
the  American  troops  had  as  yet  no  idea  of  standing  against 
the  British  in  open  fight ;  that  Bunker  Hill  was  still  their  ideal 
of  a  battle,  and  breast-works  their  only  reliance.  His  report 
to  the  general  was  unfavorable  in  the  extreme,  and  he  was 
more  decided  than  ever  in  the  opinion  that  General  Washing 
ton's  true  plan  was,  by  retreating  from  the  coast,  to  draw  the 
British  army  away  from  their  ships,  which  were  an  immense 
support  to  them,  both  morally  and  otherwise.  He  was  utterly 
opposed  to  a  general  action,  for  the  reason  that  a  large  pro 
portion  of  the  new  troops,  he  was  certain,  would  not  stand 
more  than  one  volley.  When  the  American  army  crossed  the 
East  river,  in  the  presence  of  the  enemy,  he  was  engaged 
during  the  whole  night  on  the  Brooklyn  side,  where  his  cool 
ness  and  activity  made  a  lasting  impression  upon  the  mind  oi 
General  McDougal,  who  superintended  the  embarkation.  In 
later  campaigns,  Burr  served  under  that  general,  who  showed 


36  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BURR. 

now  he  valued  Burr's  soldierly  qualities  by  the  use  he  madi 
of  them. 

But  it  was  on  that  eventful  Sunday,  September  the  15th, 
1776,  when  the  British  landed  on  Manhattan  island,  and  the 
American  army  fled  before  them  to  Harlem,  that  Major  Bur* 
most  distinguished  himself.  He  was  in  the  rear  of  the  retreat- 
ing  troops ;  as  was  also  Captain  Alexander  Hamilton,  with  his 
company  of  New  York  artillery.  Hamilton  lost  all  his  bag 
gage  and  one  gun  that  afternoon,  but  conducted  his  men  gal 
lantly  and  safely  away.  As  Major  Burr,  with  two  horsemen, 
was  riding  toward  Richmond  Hill,  on  his  way  to  Harlem,  he 
came  upon  a  small  sod-fort,  called  Bunker's  Hill,  nearly  on  the 
line  of  what  is  now  Grand-street.  To  his  astonishment  he 
found  that  a  great  part  of  an  American  brigade,  left  in  the 
city  by  one  of  the  numberless  mistakes  inevitable  on  such  a 
day,  had  taken  refuge  in  this  structure. 

The  British,  it  must  be  remembered,  landed  on  the  East 
river  side  of  the  island,  nearly  four  miles  above  the  Battery, 
with  the  intention  to  cut  off  the  retreat  of  the  Americans,  *md 
General  Knox,  who  commanded  this  brigade,  supposed  that 
the  enemy  were  already  masters  of  the  island,  and  that  escape 
by  flight  was  impossible.  Major  Burr  rode  up  to  the  fort  and 
asked  who  commanded  there.  General  Knox  presenting  him 
self,  Burr  inquired  what  he  was  doing  there,  and  why  he  did 
not  retreat.  The  general  replied  that  the  enemy  were  already 
across  the  island,  and  that  he  meant  to  defend  the  fort.  Burr 
ridiculed  the  idea  of  defending  a  place  which  was  not  bomb 
proof,  and  which  contained  neither  water  nor  provisions.  With 
one  howitzer,  he  exclaimed,  the  enemy  will  knock  it  to  pieces 
in  four  hours.  He  maintained  that  there  was  no  chance  but 
retreat,  and  urged  the  general  to  lead  out  his  men.  Knox 
declared  it  would  be  madness  to  attempt  it,  and  refused  to 
sth  While  this  debate  was  waxing  warm,  the  officers  of  the 
brigade  gathered  round,  eager  to  hear  what  was  said.  To 
them  Burr  addressed  himself  with  the  vehemence  demanded 
oy  the  occasion.  He  told  them  that  if  they  remained  where 
whey  were  they  would  all  be  prisoners  before  night,  or  hung 
ike  dogs.  He  said  it  was  better  for  half  the  corps  to  fal 


AID-DE-CAMP     TO     GENEBAL     PUTNAM.  87 

fighting  its  way  through  the  enemy's  lines,  than  for  all  to  V 
taken  and  rot  in  a  dungeon.  He  added  that  he  knew  the 
roads  of  the  island  perfectly,  and  would  lead  them  safely  to 
the  main  body  of  the  army,  if  they  would  place  themselves 
under  his  direction.  The  men  agreed  to  follow  him,  and  they 
marched  out,  Burr  riding  in  advance,  on  the  side  where  an 
attack  was  to  be  feared,  and  returning  at  intervals  to  reassure 
the  terrified  troops.  When  they  had  gone  two  miles  on  their 
way,  firing  was  suddenly  heard  at  the  right.  Shouting  to  hi& 
men  to  follow  him,  Burr  galloped  directly  to  the  spot  whence 
the  firing  had  issued,  and  soon  discovered  that  it  was  a  small 
advance-guard  of  the  enemy,  consisting  of  a  single  company, 
who,  on  seeing  the  Americans,  fired  and  fled.  Burr  and  his 
two  horsemen  rode  furiously  after  them,  and  killed  several  of 
the  fugitives.  Galloping  back,  he  found  the  troops  had  taken 
a  wrong  road,  and  were  in  sore  trepidation.  He  guided  them 
now  through  a  wood,  riding  from  front  to  rear,  and  from  rear 
to  front,  encouraging  them  by  his  words,  and  still  more  by  his 
cool,  intrepid  demeanor.  With  the  loss  of  a  few  stragglers, 
for  the  march  was  of  the  swiftest,  he  led  the  brigade  to  the 
main  body.  He  was  ever  after  regarded  by  those  troops  as 
their  deliverer  from  British  prison-ships. 

This  brilliant  feat  of  the  young  aid-de-camp  became  the  talk 
of  the  army.  Soon  after,  on  the  surrender  of  Fort  Washing 
ton,  another  brigade  was,  by  a  similar  accident,  left  behind  ; 
and  of  2500  men  that  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  not 
500  survived  the  treatment  they  received  as  prisoners.  Ar> 
olauded  by  his  comrades,  Burr  was  not  mentioned  in  the  dis- 
Datches  of  the  commander-in-chief ;  which,  then  and  always, 
he  regarded  as  an  intentional  slight. 

For  a  short  period  after  the  retreat,  he  was  comparatively 
at  leisure.  Among  his  letters,  there  is  one  written  at  this 
time  from  Kingsbridge  to  Mrs.  Timothy  Edwards,  the  aunt 
who  had  been  to  him  all  of  a  mother  that  any  but  a  mother 
can  be  to  a  child.  She  had  written  to  him  in  great  alarm,  on 
earing  of  the  abandonment  of  New  York.  His  reply,  so 
modest,  so  tenderly  respectful,  so  sensible,  would  alone  make 
&  difficult  to  believe  *hat  at  this  time  Aaron  Burr  was  a  bad 


88  LIFE     OF     AABON     BURR. 

man,  whatever  he  may  afterward  have  become.  He  tells  hia 
aunt  it  had  always  been  a  thing  conceded,  that  the  sea-portr 
of  America  were  at  the  discretion  of  the  tyrant  of  Great  Brit- 
gin ;  and  that  it  was  a  great  gain  for  the  American  army  to  be 
in  a  position  where,  to  attack  them,  the  British  must  leave  the 
immediate  support  of  their  ships.  Besides,  the  loss  of  the 
city  was  rousing  the  country  from  lethargy ;  more  effectual 
measures  than  ever  were  in  contemplation  to  increase  the 
army ;  and  a  committee  of  Congress  was  then  in  camp  to 
concert  those  measures  with  the  commander-in-chief.  "  I  do 
not  intend  by  this,  my  dear  aunt,"  he  continues,  "  to  deceive 
you  into  an  opinion  that  every  thing  is  already  entirely 
secure ;"  but  "  1  hope,  madam,  you  will  continue,  with  your 
usual  philosophy  and  resolution,  prepared  for  the  uncertain 
events  of  war,  not  anticipating  improbable  calamities."  And 
as  to  the  horrible  stories  in  circulation  about  the  barbarities  oi 
the  Hessians,  "  most  of  them  are  incredible  and  false  ;  they  are 
fonder  of  plunder  than  blood,  and  are  more  the  engines  than 
the  authors  of  cruelty."  And  so  he  proceeds  to  calm  the 
apprehensions  of  the  good  lady,  writing  her  a  letter  which 
she  would  be  proud  to  hand  round  the  village,  and  which 
would  encourage  and  stimulate  the  friends  of  the  cause.  His 
own  exploits  during  the  late  battles  and  retreats  he  does  not 
allude  to. 

At  Kingsbridge,  about  the  date  of  this  letter,  Burr  was  en 
gaged  in  an  adventure  little  in  harmony  with  the  warlike 
scenes  around  him. 

The  breaking  out  of  the  revolutionary  war  found  a  number 
of  British  officers  domesticated  among  the  colonists,  and  con 
nected  with  them  by  marriage.  In  New  York  and  the  other 
garrisoned  towns,  officers  of  the  army  led  society,  as  military 
men  still  do  in  every  garrisoned  town  in  the  world.  When 
hostilities  began,  and  every  man  was  ordered  to  his  post,  some 
of  these  officers  left  their  families  residing  among  the  people ; 
and  it  happened,  in  a  few  instances,  that  the  events  of  war 
•arried  a  father  far  away  from  his  wife  and  children,  never 
to  rejoin  them.  The  future  Scott  of  America  will  know 
how  to  make  all  this  very  familiar  to  the  American  peopl* 


TO   GENERAL   PUTNAM.          89 

by  the  romantic  and  pathetic  fictions  which  it  will  suggest 
to  him. 

Margaret  Moncrieffe,  a  girl  of  fourteen,  but  a  woman  in  de 
velopment  and  appetite,  witty,  vivacious,  piquant  and  beauti 
ful,  had  been  left  at  Elizabethtown,  in  New  Jersey,  by  her 
father,  Major  Moncrieffe,  who  was  then  with  his  regiment  on 
Staten  Island,  and  of  course  cut  off  from  communication  with 
his  daughter.  Destitute  of  resources,  and  anxious  to  rejoin 
her  father,  she  wrote  to  General  Putnam  for  his  advice  and 
assistance.  General  Putnam  received  her  letter  in  New  York 
about  the  time  that  Major  Burr  joined  him,  and  his  reply  was 
prepared  for  his  signature  by  the  hand  of  his  new  aid-de-camp. 
The  good  old  general  declared  in  this  letter  that  he  was  her 
father's  enemy,  indeed,  as  an  officer,  but  as  a  man,  his  friend, 
and  ready  to  do  any  good  office  for  him  or  his.  He  invited 
her  to  come  and  reside  in  his  family  until  arrangements  coold 
be  made  for  sending  her  to  Staten  Island.  She  consented,  an 
officer  was  sent  to  conduct  her  to  the  city,  and  she  wa&  at 
once  established  in  General  Putnam's  house.  There  she  met, 
and  became  intimate  with  Major  Burr. 

What  followed  from  their  intimacy  has  been  stated  variously 
by  those  who  have  written  of  it.  Mr.  Davis  more  than  in 
sinuates,  nay,  more  than  asserts,  that  Miss  Moncrieffe  was 
seduced  by  Burr,  and  that  to  him  is  to  be  attributed  her  sub 
sequent  career  of  sorrow  and  shame.  In  support  of  this  accu 
sation,  he  quotes  from  her  autobiography,  published  after  she 
had  been  the  mistress  of  half  a  dozen  of  the  notables  of  Lon 
don,  certain  passages  which,  taken  by  themselves,  do  certainly 
corroborate  the  charge.  Great  indeed  was  my  astonishment 
on  recurring  to  the  work  itself  (Memoirs  of  Mrs.  Coghlan)  to 
find  that  her  narrative,  read  in  connection,  not  only  affords  no 
support  to  Mr.  Davis's  insinuations,  but  explicitly,  and  twice, 
contradicts  them.  As  a  reply  to  Mr.  Davis's  garbled  extracts, 
.  ere  follows  the  entire  passage  relating  to  her  connection  with 
the  American  army.  It  is  kn^wn  and  conceded  that  the  young 
officer  whom  she  extols  in  sujch  passionate  language,  and  whom 
she  miscalls  'colonel,'  was  Major  Burr.  Thus  writes  Mra 
Coghlan,  nee  Moncrieffe : 


30  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

"  When  I  arrived  in  Broadway  (a  street  so  called),  where 
General  Putnam  resided,  I  was  received  with  great  tender 
ness,  both  by  Mrs.  Putnam  and  her  daughters,  and  on  the  fol 
lowing  day  I  was  introduced  by  them  to  General  and  Mrs 
Washington,  who  likewise  made  it  their  study  to  show  me 
every  mark  of  regard ;  but  I  seldom  was  allowed  to  be  alone, 
although  sometimes,  indeed,  I  found  an  opportunity  to  escape 
to  the  gallery  on  the  top  of  the  house,  where  my  chief  delight 
was  to  view,  with  a  telescope,  our  fleet  and  army  on  Staten 
Island.  My  amusements  were  few ;  the  good  Mrs.  Putnam 
employed  me  and  her  daughters  constantly  to  spin  flax  for 
shirts  for  the  American  soldiers ;  indolence,  in  America,  being 
totally  discouraged ;  and  I  likewise  worked  for  General  Put 
nam,  who,  though  not  an  accomplished  muscadin,  like  our 
dilletantis  of  St.  James's-street,  was  certainly  one  of  the  best 
characters  in  the  world ;  his  heart  being  composed  of  those 
noble  materials  which  equally  command  respect  and  admira 
tion. 

"  One  day,  after  dinner,  the  Congress  was  the  toast ;  General 
Washington  viewed  me  very  attentively,  and  sarcastically 
said,  'Miss  Moncrieffe,  you  don't  drink  your  wine.'  Embar 
rassed  by  this  reproof,  I  knew  not  how  to  act ;  at  last,  as  if  by 
a  secret  impulse,  I  addressed  myself  to  the  '  American  Com- 
mander,'  and  taking  the  wine,  I  said,  *  General'  Howe  is  the 
toast.'  Vexed  at  my  temerity,  the  whole  company,  especially 
General  Washington,  censured  me ;  when  my  good  friend, 
General  Putnam,  as  usual,  apologized,  and  assured  them  I  did 
not  mean  to  offend.  '  Besides,'  replied  he,  '  every  thing  said 
or  done  by  such  a  child  ought  rather  to  amuse  than  affront 
you.'  General  Washington,  piqued  at  this  observation,  then 
said,  '  Well,  miss,  I  will  overlook  your  indiscretion,  on  con 
dition  that  you  drink  my  health,  or  General  Putnam's,  the  first 
time  you  dine  at  Sir  William  Howe's  table,  on  the  other  side 
of  the  water.' 

"These  words  conveyed  to  me  a  flattering  hope  that  I 
should  once  more  see  my  father,  and  I  promised  General  Wash 
ngton  to  do  any  thing  which  he  desired,  provided  he  woula 
permit  me  to  return  to  him. 


AID-DE-CAMP     TO     GENERAL     PUTNAM.  91 

"  Not  long  after  this  circumstance,  a  flag  of  truce  arrived 
from  Staten  Island,  with  letters  from  Major  Moncrieffe,  de 
manding  me,  for  they  now  considered  me  as  a  prisoner. 
General  Washington  would  not  acquiesce  in  this  demand,  say 
ing  '  that  I  should  remain  a  hostage  for  my  father's  good  be 
havior.'  I  must  here  observe,  that  when  General  Washing. 
ton  refused  to  deliver  me  up,  the  noble-minded  Putnam,  as  if 
it  were  by  instinct,  laid  his  hand  on  his  sword,  and,  with  a  vio 
lent  oath,  swore  '  that  my  father's  request  should  be  granted.' 
The  commander-in-chief,  whose  influence  governed  the  Con 
gress,  soon  prevailed  on  them  to  consider  me  as  a  person  whose 
situation  required  their  strict  attention  ;  and,  that  I  might  not 
escape,  they  ordered  me  to  Kingsbridge,  where,  in  justice, 
I  must  say,  that  I  was  treated  with  the  utmost  tenderness. 
General  Mifflin  there  commanded.  His  lady  was  a  most  ac 
complished,  beautiful  woman,  a  Quaker.  And  here  my  heart 
received  its  first  impression — an  impression  that,  amid  the  sub 
sequent  shocks  which  it  has  received,  has  never  been  effaced, 
and  which  rendered  me  very  unfit  to  admit  the  embraces  of 
an  unfeeling,  brutish  husband. 

"  O,  may  these  pages  one  day  meet  the  eye  of  him  who 
subdued  my  virgin  heart,  whom  the  immutable,  unerring  laws 
of  nature  had  pointed  out  for  my  husband,  but  whose  sacred 
decree  the  barbarous  customs  of  society  fatally  violated.  To 
him  I  plighted  my  virgin  vow,  and  I  shall  never  cease  to 
lament  that  obedience  to  a  father  left  it  incomplete.  When 
I  reflect  on  my  past  sufferings,  now  that,  alas  !  my  present  sor 
rows  press  heavily  upon  me,  I  can  not  refrain  from  expatiating 
a  little  on  the  inevitable  horrors  which  ever  attend  the  frus 
tration  of  natural  affections :  I  myself,  who,  unpitie'd  by  the 
world,  have  endured  every  calamity  that  human  nature  knows, 
am  a  melancholy  example  of  this  truth  ;  for  if  I  know  my  own 
Leart,  it  is  far  better  calculated  for  the  purer  joys  of  domestic 
•ife,  than  for  the  hurricane  of  ^extravagance  and  dissipation  in 
yvhich  I  have  been  wrecked. 

"  Why  is  the  will  of  nature  so  often  perverted  ?  Why  is 
locial  happiness  for  ever  sacrificed  at  the  altar  of  prejudice  ? 
\varice  has  usurped  the  throne  of  reason,  and  the  affections 


92  LIFE     OF     AABON     BUBB. 

of  the  heart  are  not  consulted.  We  can  not  command  oar  de 
sires,  and  when  the  object  of  our  being  is  unattained,  misery 
must  be  necessarily  our  doom.  Let  this  truth,  therefore,  be 
for  ever  remembered :  when  once  an  affection  has  rooted  itself 
in  a  tender,  constant  heart,  no  time,  no  circumstance  can 
eradicate  it.  Unfortunate,  then,  are  they  who  are  joined,  if 
their  hearts  are  not  matched  ! 

"  With  this  conqueror  of  my  soul,  how  happy  should  I  now 
have  been  !  What  storms  and  tempests  should  I  have  avoided 
(at  least  I  am  pleased  to  think  so)  if  I  had  been  allowed  to 
follow  the  bent  of  my  inclinations !  and  happier,  O,  ten  thou 
sand  times  happier  should  I  have  been  with  him,  in  the  wildest 
desert  of  our  native  country,  the  woods  affording  us  our  only 
shelter,  and  their  fruits  our  only  repast,  than  under  the  canopy 
of  costly  state,  with  all  the  refinements  and  embellishments  of 
courts,  with  the  royal  warrior  who  would  fain  have  proved 
himself  the  conqueror  of  France. 

"  My  conqueror  was  engaged  in  another  cause,  he  was  am 
bitious  to  obtain  other  laurels :  he  fought  to  liberate,  not  to 
enslave  nations.  He  was  a  colonel  in  the  American  army,  and 
high  in  the  estimation  of  his  country :  his  victories  were  never 
accompanied  with  one  gloomy,  relenting  thought ;  they  shone 
as  bright  as  the  cause  which  achieved  them  !  I  had  communi 
cated  by  letter  to  General  Putnam  the  proposals  of  this  gen- 
tleman,  with  my  determination  to  accept  them,  and  I  was  em 
barrassed  by  the  answer  which  the  general  returned ;  he 
entreated  me  to  remember  that  the  person  in  question,  from 
his  political  principles,  was  extremely  obnoxious  to  my  father, 
and  concluded  by  observing,  *  that  I  surely  must  not  unite 
myself  with  a  man  who  would  not  hesitate  to  drench  his 
sword  in  the  blood  of  my  nearest  relation,  should  he  be  op 
posed  to  him  in  battle.'  Saying  this,  he  lamented  the  neces 
sity  of  giving  advice  contrary  to  his  own  sentiments,  since  ii? 
every  other  respect  he  considered  the  match  as  unexception* 
able.  Nevertheless,  General  Putnam,  after  this  discovery 
appeared,  in  all  his  visits  to  Kingsbridge,  extremely  reserved  • 
his  eyes  were  constantly  fixed  on  me  ;  nor  did  he  ever  ceas* 
lo  make  me  the  object  of  his  concern  to  Congress ;  and,  aft' 


AID-DE-CAMP     TO     GENEKAL     PUTNAM.  93 

rarious  applications,  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  leave  for  my 
departure ;  when,  in  order  that  I  should  go  to  Staten  Island 
with  the  respect  due  to  my  sex  and  family,  the  barge  belong 
ing  to  the  Continental  Congress  was  ordered,  with  twelve  oars, 
and  a  general  officer,  together  with  his  suite,  was  dispatched 
to  see  me  safe  across  the  bay  of  New  York.  The  day  was  so 
very  tempestuous,  that  I  was  half  drowned  with  the  waves 
dashing  against  me.  When  we  came  within  hail  of  the  EagU 
man-of-war,  which  was  Lord  Howe's  ship,  a  flag  of  truce  was 
Bent  to  meet  us :  the  officer  dispatched  on  this  occasion  was 
Lieutenant  Brown.  General  Knox  told  him  that  he  had  or 
ders  to  see  me  safe  to  head-quarters.  Lieutenant  Brown  re 
plied,  '  It  was  impossible,  as  no  person  from  the  enemy  could 
approach  nearer  the  English  fleet ;'  but  added, c  that  if  I  would 
place  myself  under  his  protection,  he  certainly  would  attend 
me  thither.'  I  then  entered  the  barge,  and  bidding  an  eternal 
farewell  to  my  dear  American  friends,  turned  MY  BACK  ON 

LIBERTY. 

"  We  first  rowed  alongside  the  Eagle,  and  Mr.  Brown  after 
ward  conveyed  me  to  head-quarters.  When  my  name  was 
announced,  the  British  commander-in -chief  sent  Colonel  Sheriff' 
(lately  made  a  general,  and  who,  during  my  father's  life-time, 
was  one  of  his  most  particular  friends;  although,  alas!  the 
endearing  sentiment  of  friendship  now  seems  extinct  in  his 
breast,  as  far  as  the  unhappy  daughter  is  concerned)  with  an 
invitation  from  Sir  William  Howe  to  dinner,  which  was  neces 
sarily  accepted.  When  introduced,  I  can  not  describe  the 
emotion  I  felt ;  so  sudden  the  transition  in  a  few  hours,  that  I 
was  ready  to  sink  into  earth !  Judge  the  distress  of  a  girl 
not  fourteen,  obliged  to  encounter  the  curious,  inquisitive  eyes 
of  at  least  forty  or  fifty  people  who  were  at  dinner  with  the 
general.  Fatigued  with  their  fastidious  compliments,  I  could 
only  hear  the  buzz  among  them,  saying,  '  She  is  a  sweet  girl, 
ehe  is  divinely  handsome ;'  although  it  was  some  relief  to  be 
placed  at  table  next  to  the  wife  of  Major  Montresor,  who 
had  known  me  from  my  infancy.  Owing  to  this  circumstance, 
I  recovered  a  degree  of  confidence  ;  but  being  unfortunately 
asked,  agreeably  to  military  etiquette,  for  a  toast,  I  gav« 


34  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

1  General  Putnam.'  Colonel  Sheriff  said,  in  a  low  voice,  *  Yon 
must  not  give  him  here ;'  when  Sir  William  Howe  complai- 
santly  replied,  4  O !  by  all  means ;  if  he  be  the  lady's  sweet 
heart,  I  can  have  no  objection  to  drink  his  health.'  This 
involved  me  in  a  new  dilemma ;  I  wished  myself  a  thousand 
miles  distant,  and,  to  divert  the  attention  of  the  company,  1 
gave  to  the  general  a  letter  that  I  had  been  commissioned  to 
deliver  from  General  Putnam,  of  which  the  following  is  9 
copy.  (And  here  I  consider  myself  bound  to  apologize  fo) 
the  bad  spelling  of  my  most  excellent  republican  friend.  Thi 
bad  orthography  was  amply  compensated  by  the  magnanimit) 
of  the  man  who  wrote  it)  : 

"lGfinrale  Putnam's  compliments  to  Major  Moncrieffe,  has 
made  him  a  present  of  a  fine  daughter,  if  he  don't  lick  her  he 
must  send  her  back  again,  and  he  will  previde  her  with  a  good 
twig  husband.' 

"  The  substitution  of  twig  for  whig  husband,  served  as  a 
fund  of  entertainment  to  the  whole  company." 

She  proceeds  to  record  the  history  of  her  marriage  with 
Mr.  Coghlan,  who,  she  says,  drove  her  into  the  arms  of  a 
paramour  by  the  brutality  of  his  conduct.  She  asserts  that 
she  had  led  a  strictly  virtuous  life  until,  after  being  forced 
into  a  marriage  with  a  man  she  loathed,  she  was  subjected  by 
him  to  harsh  and  cruel  treatment.  The  statements  of  a  woman 
notorious  for  her  vices  can  not,  of  course,  be  regarded  as  evi 
dence  ;  yet  it  seemed  just  to  the  memory  of  Burr  for  the 
reader  to  be  informed  that  the  story  of  her  seduction  by  him 
has  no  corroboration  in  her  own  narrative.  The  man  has 
enough  to  answer  for  without  having  the  ruin  of  this  girl  of 
fourteen  laid  to  his  charge.  Her  story,  it  must  be  admitted, 
is  not  very  probable.  Burr  was,  to  a  considerable  extent,  hia 
general's  general ;  and  if  he  had  really  loved  Miss  Moncrieffe 
and  she  him,  and  each  had  desired  marriage,  I  think  that  Gen« 
eral  Putnam  could  have  been  easily  dissuaded  from  making 
any  serious  opposition  to  it. 

Perhaps,  if  the  young  lady  had  known  who  it  was  that 
caused  her  removal  from  the  city,  she  might  not  have  been  sa 
easily  captivated.  According  to  a  story  told  by  the  laU 


AID-DE-CAMP     TO     GENERAL     PUTNAM.  95 

Colonel  W.  L.  Stone  (author  of  the  Life  of  Brant),  it  was  no 
other  than  Burr  himself.  Before  her  arrival  at  General  Put 
nam's,  it  appears  that  Burr,  though  he  was  delighted  with  her 
wit  and  vivacity,  conceived  the  idea  that  she  might  be  a  British 
spy ;  and  as  he  was  looking  over  her  shoulder  one  day,  while 
she  was  painting  a  bouquet,  the  suspicion  darted  into  his  mind 
that  she  was  using  the  "  language  of  flowers*'  for  the  purpose 
of  conveying  intelligence  to  the  enemy.  He  communicated 
his  suspicion  to  General  Washington,  who  thought  it  onlj 
prudent  to  remove  her  a  few  miles  further  inland,  to  the  quar 
ters  of  General  Mifflin  ;  where,  after  the  evacuation  of  the 
city,  Burr  met  her  again,  and,  as  she  says,  won  her  virgin  af 
fections.  Colonel  Stone  was  very  intimate  with  Burr  in  hid 
latter  years,  and  had  long  conversations  with  him  about  revo 
lutionary  times  He  may  have  derived  this  pretty  tale  froio 
Burr  himself, 


CHAPTER    VII. 

HE    COMMANDS    A    REGIMENT. 

4.PPO  INTEL*  A  LlETTTBNANT-CoLONEL — COMMANDS  A  REGIMENT  —  OAPTTTEE8  A  BfilTISB 
PICKET  —  FOBMS  AN  ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  MRS.  THEODOSIA  PEEVOST  —  COMMAND* 
A  BEIGADE  AT  THE  BATTLE  OF  HONMOUTH  — ANECDOTE. 

MAJOR  BURR  continued  to  serve  as  General  Putnam's  aid 
for  ten  months  after  the  retreat  from  New  York,  and  bore  his 
part  in  the  toils  and  dangers  of  that  dismal  period.  In  the 
spring  of  1777  a  new  army  was  to  be  raised,  but  he  had  no 
hopes  of  a  regimental  appointment  in  it.  In  March,  he  wrote 
to  his  friend  Ogden  that  he  had  not  the  least  expectation  of 
promotion  either  in  the  line  or  on  the  staff,  but  as  he  was 
"  very  happy  in  the  esteem  and  entire  confidence  of  his  good 
old  general,"  he  should  be  piqued  at  no  neglect,  unless  partic 
ularly  pointed,  or  where  silence  would  be  want  of  spirit.  It 
was  true,  he  said,  his  equals  and  even  inferiors  in  rank  had 
left  him ;  and  assurances  from  those  in  power  he  had  had,  un 
asked,  in  abundance ;  but  of  those  he  should  never  remind 
them.  We  were  not  to  be  the  judges  of  our  own  merit,  and 
he  was  content  to  contribute  his  mite  in  any  station.  From 
this  language  we  may  infer  that  he  thought  himself  an  ill-used 
aid-de-camp. 

In  July,  1777,  while  at  Peekskill  with  General  Putnam,  he 
was  notified  by  General  Washington  of  his  promotion  to  the 
rank  of  lieutenant-colonel.  He  was  one  of  the  youngest  who 
held  that  rank  in  the  revolutionary  army,  or  who  has  ever 
held  it  in  an  army  of  the  United  States ;  yet  he  thought  the 
promotion  unjustly  tardy.  In  his  letter  of  acknowledgment 
to  the  commander-in-chief,  he  said  he  was  truly  sensible  of  the 
honor  done  him,  and  should  be  studious  to  comport  himself  ic 


HE     COMMANDS     A     REGIMENT.  97 

ms  new  rank  so  as  to  secure  his  general's  esteem  ;  yet  he  was 
constrained  to  observe  that  the  late  date  of  his  appointment 
subjected  him  to  the  command  of  some  officers  who  were  his 
juniors  last  campaign;  and  he  should  like,  with  submission, to 
know  whether  it  was  misconduct  in  him,  or  extraordinary 
merit  in  them,  which  had  given  them  the  preference.  He 
wanted,  he  continued,  to  avoid  equally  the  character  of  tur 
bulent  or  passive,  but  as  a  decent  regard  to  rank  was  proper 
and  necessary,  he  hoped  the  concern  he  felt  was  excusable  in 
one  who  regarded  his  honor  next  to  the  welfare  of  his  coun 
try.  The  general's  reply  to  this  letter  has  not  been  preserved. 

With  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel,  Burr  soon  found  him 
self  the  sole  commander  of  his  regiment,  his  colonel  not  being 
a  fighting  man. 

To  the  strength  of  the  patriot  cause,  every  interest  of  the 
country  had  to  contribute  its  quota  ;  rich  men,  money  ;  influ 
ential  men,  weight  and  respectability  ;  efficient  men,  practical 
help.  Many  were,  therefore,  appointed  to  high  posts  in  the 
army  because  they  were  persons  of  importance  in  civil  life  • 
they  gave  their  names  to  the  cause.  Among  the  reasons 
which  made  Washington  the  most  complete  exemplification 
of  "  the  right  man  for  the  right  place,"  that  history  exhibits, 
one  was  that  he  was  a  great  Virginia  gentleman,  who  had 
vast  plantations,  hundreds  of  slaves,  a  fine  mansion,  and  rode 
about  in  a  chariot  and  six.  "  One  of  the  finest  fortunes  in 
America,"  John  Adams  exultingly  exclaims,  in  mentioning 
his  acceptance  of  the  command.  And  his  exultation  was  just ; 
for  such  things  have  not  merely  a  legitimate  influence  in  hu 
man  affairs,  but  the  fact  of  such  a  fortune  being  freely  risked 
in  the  cause,  showed  the  faith  the  owner  had  in  its  justice, 
importance,  and  chance  of  success. 

Colonel  Malcolm,  to  whose  regiment  Burr  was  appointed, 
had  been  a  leading  merchant  of  New  York,  and  was  a  mail 
of  wealth  and  influential  connections.  At  the  time  of  Burr's 
appointment,  the  regiment,  such  as  it  was,  lay  on  the  Ramapo, 
in  Orange  county,  New  Jersey,  whither  he  at  once  repaired, 
and  found  the  colonel  in  command.  Each  surprised  the 
other.  Malcolm  was  amazed  at  the  youthful  appearance  of 

6 


&8  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

his  second  in  command,  and  began  to  fear  thai  he  would  be 
continually  getting  him  and  the  regiment  into  trouble.  But 
over  the  Malcolms  of  the  world  nothing  was  easier  than  for 
Burr  to  gain  a  complete  ascendency ;  and,  accordingly,  a 
very  few  days  sufficed  for  the  lieutenant-colonel  to  inspire 
his  chief  with  perfect  confidence  in  his  abilities.  Burr,  on  his 
part,  saw  that  Colonel  Malcolm  was  an  amiable  gentleman, 
and  no  soldier.  In  a  short  time,  the  colonel  removed  with 
his  family  twenty  miles  from  where  the  regiment  lay,  leaving 
Burr  master  of  the  situation  ;  saying,  as  he  departed,  "  You 
shall  have  all  the  honor  of  disciplining  and  fighting  the  regi 
ment,  while  I  will  be  its  father."  He  was  as  good  as  his  word. 
During  the  whole  war  he  did  not  once  lead  the  regiment  into 
action,  nor  personally  command  it  more  than  four  weeks. 
From  the  day  he  joined  to  the  day  he  ceased  to  be  a  soldier, 
Burr  was,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  the  regiment's  chief 
officer. 

Enjoying  now  an  independent  command,  Colonel  Burr 
sprang  to  his  duties  with  an  ardor  that  soon  produced  sur 
prising  results.  The  regiment  was  in  a  condition  that  would 
have  been  ridiculous  if  the  cause  had  been  less  serious,  and  the 
enemy  more  remote.  The  men,  of  whom  there  were  about 
two  hundred  and  sixty,  were  of  good  material,  but  almost 
wholly  unacquainted  with  their  duty ;  and  of  the  officers  an 
unusual  number  were  young  gentlemen  of  the  city,  members 
of  wealthy  families,  effeminate  in  character,  and  destitute  of 
the  faintest  intimation  of  military  knowledge.  These  were 
just  the  circumstances  to  call  into  exercise  the  strong  and 
shining  qualities  of  Colonel  Burr.  He  drew  tight  the  reins  of 
discipline  which  Malcolm  had  held  with  an  easy  hand.  Severe 
drills  and  rigorous  inspections  took  the  place  of  formal  ones. 
Discovering  at  a  glance  the  hopeless  inefficiency  of  many  of 
the  officers,  one  of  his  first  objects  was  to  get  rid  of  the  worst 
of  them.  After  some  preliminary  correspondence  with  Gen 
eral  Conway,  and  feeling  his  way  in  the  regiment,  he  took  the 
bold  step  of  ordering  several  of  the  officers  home,  on  the  sim 
ple  ground  of  their  utter  uselessness.  If  any  gentleman,  h« 
»old  them,  objected  to  his  dismissal,  he,  Colonel  Burr,  heW 


HE     COMMANDS     A     REGIMENT.  99 

himself  personally  responsible  for  the  measure,  and  was  ready 
to  afford  any  satisfaction  that  might  be  demanded. 

He  had  read  his  men  correctly.  All  of  the  dismissed  sub 
mitted  to  his  decree  without  audible  murmur,  except  one,  who 
wrote  an  absurdly  defiant  reply  to  the  autocratic  colonel. 
Burr  was  as  civil  as  an  orange  to  the  offended  youth,  inform 
ing  him  with  elegant  brevity,  that  on  a  certain  day,  at  a  cer 
tain  hour,  he  should  be  at  the  village  nearest  the  young  gen 
tleman's  residence,  where,  at  the  tavern,  he  would  wait  any 
communication  he  might  be  pleased  to  send.  To  the  minute, 
Colonel  Burr  was  at  the  place.  No  one  was  there  to  meet 
him.  After  waiting  awhile,  he  walked  over  to  the  family  resi 
dence  of  the  dismissed,  where,  indeed,  he  was  well  known, 
and  had  often  been  a  guest.  The  ladies  of  the  family,  of 
whom  a  large  number  were  assembled,  received  him  with 
cordiality  and  distinction ;  the  young  officer,  too,  was  ex 
tremely  polite,  and  the  party  sat  down  to  dinner  as  though 
nothing  had  occurred.  The  colonel  conversed  with  his  usual 
gayoty  and  spirit  until  the  conclusion  of  the  repast,  when  he 
struck  terror  to  the  party  by  blandly  requesting  the  young 
man,  whom  the  ladies  called  Neddy,  to  walk  out  with  him. 
They  had  not  gone  many  steps  from  the  house,  before  the  la 
dies,  in  a  body,  came  shrieking  after  them.  "  O,  Colonel  Burr, 
what  are  you  going  to  do  with  Neddy?"  cried  one  of  them 
They  protested  that  he  had  meant  no  harm,  and  that  he  would 
never  write  so  any  more.  They  would  see  to  that  if  Colonel 
Burr  would  only  forgive  him.  The  colonel,  amused  at  the 
turn  the  affair  had  taken,  replied,  in  his  politest  manner,  that 
nothing  was  further  from  his  desire  than  to  harm  the  young 
gentleman ;  he  would  merely  take  occasion  to  advise  him  that 
when  next  he  felt  inclined  to  indite  a  swelling  letter  to  a  gen 
tleman,  he  should  submit  the  document  to  the  perusal  of  the 
ladies  before  sending  it.  With  this  admonition  the  colonel 
banded  Neddy  over  to  the  ladies,  bowed,  and  took  leave.  Burr 
used  to  say  that  this  incident  gave  no  incorrect  idea  of  the 
stuff  some  of  the  regimental  officers  were  made  of  at  the  be 
ginning  of  the  Revolution. 

Two  months  of  incessant  exertion  on  the  part  of  the  col 


100  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

onel  brought  the  regiment  to  a  tolerable  state  of  discipline,  anc1 
increased  its  effective  force  to  over  three  hundred  men.  Burr 
was  soon  the  idol  of  his  troops,  for  he  knew  how  to  command 
them.  Exacting  the  most  prompt  and  implicit  obedience, Tie 
commanded  only  what  was  right  and  necessary,  and  was 
prompt  to  notice  and  applaud  good  conduct.  Not  a  blow  was 
given  in  the  regiment  while  he  was  at  the  head  of  it,  though, 
at  that  time,  corporeal  punishment  was  a  custom  in  the  conti 
nental  army.  He  was  a  natural  commander.  Men  knew  by 
bstin  t  that  he  was  competent  to  direct  them ;  they  followed 
eagerly  where  they  saw  him  lead,  and  bore  gladly  what  they 
saw  he  never  shrank  from  sharing  with  them.  His  eye  was 
everywhere.  The  sick  he  cared  for  with  the  tenderness  and 
constancy  of  a  brother,  often  assisting  them  with  his  own 
hands,  and  oftener  with  his  purse.  "  His  attention  and  care 
of  the  men,"  says  a  subaltern  of  the  regiment,  "  were  such  as 
I  nevei  saw,  nor  any  thing  approaching  it,  in  any  other  officer, 
though  I  served  under  many."  Such  was  his  vigilance,  that 
some  of  his  men  thought  him  a  kind  of  necromancer,  or  magi 
cian,  who  could  see  one  sentinel  nod  and  another  prowling 
about  for  plunder,  when  he  was  fast  asleep  in  his  bed.  In  the 
course  of  a  campaign  or  two,  Malcolm's  regiment  was  one  of 
the  best  disciplined  in  the  army. 

In  September,  in  the  midst  of  his  drilling  and  recruiting,  a 
rumor  ran  through  the  neighborhood  that  the  British,  in  great 
force,  had  marched  out  of  New  York,  and  were  laying  waste 
the  lower  parts  of  Orange  county,  and  driving  off  the  cattle 
and  horses.  The  country  people  were  panic-stricken  and  made 
instant  preparations  for  flight.  The  rumor  proved  true,  and 
positive  intelligence  soon  reached  Colonel  Burr  that  the  ene 
my,  two  thousand  strong,  were  within  thirty  miles  of  him. 
To  order  out  his  whole  force,  to  detail  a  small  guard  for  his 
camp,  and  to  march  toward  the  enemy  with  the  rest,  was  the 
work  of  the  first  hour  of  the  afternoon ;  and  before  the  sun 
let,  he  had  reached  Paramus,  sixteen  miles  distant.  On  the 
march  he  was  met  by  an  express  from  General  Putnam,  advis» 
ing  him  of  the  movements  of  the  enemy,  and  recommending 
to  retreat,  with  the  public  stores  in  his  keeping,  into  tin 


HB     COMMANDS     A     REGIMENT.  101 

mountains.  Observing  that  he  would  never  run  away  from 
an  enemy  he  had  not  seen,  and  that  he  would  be  answerable 
for  the  public  stores  and  for  the  troops,  he  pushed  on  toward 
Paramus,  with  new  energy.  There  he  found  a  body  of  militia 
of  the  county,  that  had  rendezvoused  at  Paramus  on  the  first 
alarm,  and  were  making  confusion  worse  confounded  by  their 
ill-directed,  frantic  exertions.  Among  their  other  feats,  they 
had  pulled  down  most  of  the  fences  of  the  neighboring  farms 
with  a  vague  idea,  dear  to  the  minds  of  militia,  of  making 
breast-works  with  which  to  stay  the  conquering  progress  of 
the  enemy.  On  Burr's  arrival,  he  took  the  command  of  these 
disorderly  troops  ;  and  though,  as  one  of  them  afterward  said, 
he  seemed  but  a  boy,  yet  as  he  alone  appeared  to  know  what 
he  was  about,  they  obeyed  him  willingly.  His  own  men  he 
ported  in  a  strong  position,  and  took  the  usual  measures  to 
guard  against  surprise  during  the  night.  The  militia,  after 
first  directing  them  to  repair  the  damage  they  had  done,  he 
provided  for  in  a  similar  manner.  Then,  selecting  seventeen 
of  his  best  men,  he  started,  soon  after  dark,  and  marched  with 
all  the  rapidity  possible,  and  in  perfect  silence,  toward  the 
scene  of  the  enemy's  devastations.  He  was  determined  on 
seeing  for  himself  what  there  was  there  to  run  away  from. 

About  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening,  when  within  three  miles 
of  Hackensack,  he  received  certain  information  that  the  most 
advanced  of  the  enemy's  pickets  was  one  mile  distant.  His 
men,  who  had  marched  thirty  miles  since  leaving  camp,  were 
now  extremely  fatigued.  He  led  them  to  a  wood  near  by,  and 
ordered  them  to  lie  down  and  keep  perfectly  silent  until  he 
should  return.  In  a  few  minutes  the  whole  party  were  asleep 

Colonel  Burr  now  went  forward  alone  to  rcconnoiter.  With 
the  stealthy  caution  of  an  Indian,  he  glided  toward  the  picket, 
and  saw  them  at  length,  lying  on  the  ground,  guarded  by  two 
sentinels.  He  was  near  enough  to  overhear  their  watchword. 
He  then  made  a  wide  detour,  and  ascertained  that  this  picket 
tfas  so  far  in  advance  of  the  main  body  as  to  be  out  of  hear 
ing.  In  making  these  observations,  and  thoroughly  satisfying 
himself  of  their  correctness,  the  greater  part  of  the  night 
passed,  and  before  he  again  reached  his  own  party,  it  wai 


(02  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BURR. 

witlav  an  hour  of  daybreak.  He  now  quietly  and  quickly 
woke  his  men,  told  them  in  a  few  decided  words  that  he  was 
going  to  attack  the  enemy's  picket,  ordered  them  to  follow 
at  a  certain  distance,  and  forbade  any  man  to  speak,  on  pain 
of  instant  death.  The  little  column  pushed  forward  rapidly. 
So  accurately  had  the  colonel  noted  the  locality,  and  calculated 
the  positions  of  the  sentinels,  that  he  was  able  to  lead  his 
men  between  those  two  unsuspecting  individuals  at  the  mo 
ment  when  they  were  farthest  apart ;  and  he  was  almost  upon 
the  sleeping  picket  before  a  man  of  it  began  to  stir.  At  the 
distance  of  ten  yards,  Burr,  who  was  a  pace  or  two  in  ad 
vance,  was  challenged  by  a  sentinel,  whom  he  instantly  shot 
dead,  and  then  gave  the  word  for  the  attack.  With  fixed 
bayonets  his  men  rushed  upon  the  drowsy  foe,  who  were  made 
prisoners  before  they  were  completely  awake.  One  officer,  a 
sergeant,  a  corporal,  and  twenty-seven  privates  fell  into  their 
hands  on  this  occasion.  Only  one  of  the  picket,  beside  the 
sentinel,  made  any  resistance,  and  he  was  overpowered  after 
he  had  received  two  bayonet  wounds.  He  attempted  to  march 
away  with  his  comrades,  but,  after  going  a  short  distance, 
was  compelled  to  lie  down,  exhausted  and  fainting  from  loss 
of  blood. 

"  Go  a  little  further,  my  good  fellow,"  said  Burr,  "  and  we 
will  get  a  surgeon  for  you." 

"Ah,  sir,"  gasped  the  dying  veteran,  "all  the  doctors 
in  America  can  do  me  no  service,  for  I  am  a  dying  man ;  but 
it  grieves  me  sore  to  the  heart  to  think  I  have  served  my 
king  upward  of  twenty  years,  and  at  length  must  die  with  a 
charged  musket  in  my  hand." 

In  a  few  minutes,  surrounded  by  friends  and  foes  equally 
Bympathizing,  the  old  soldier  breathed  his  last.  Of  the  attack 
ing  party  not  a  man  received  a  scratch. 

Instantly  Colonel  Burr,  with  the  instinct  of  a  true  soldier 
set  about  turning  this  slight  and  easy  victory  to  the  greatest 
possible  advantage.  He  dispatched  an  express  from  the  very 
scene  of  his  exploit  to  the  main  body  of  his  troops  at  Para/ 
mus,  ordering  them  to  march  toward  him  immediately,  witt 
ill  the  militia  of  the  district.  In  various  directions  he  di» 


HE     COMMANDS     A     REGIMENT.  108 

patched  messengers  to  rally  the  country  to  his  support.  The 
news  of  the  night's  adventure,  magnified  into  a  splendid  vic 
tory  over  the  red  coats,  flew  like  the  wind,  and  displaced  the 
panic  of  the  day  before  by  its  natural  consequence,  an  all-defy 
ing  confidence.  At  that  time  the  patriots  stood  in  such  awe 
of  the  British  regulars  that  the  actual  killing  of  a  few,  and 
the  parade  of  a  few  more  as  prisoners,  were  events  of  a  most 
inspiring  nature,  calculated  to  call  forth  every  musket  of  the 
neighborhood  in  which  they  occurred.  Before  night,  Colonel 
Burr  found  himself  at  the  head  of  an  imposing  force,  with 
which  he  continued  to  make  such  terrible  demonstrations,  that 
the  enemy  retreated  with  precipitation,  leaving  behind  them 
the  cattle  they  had  collected.  All  night  Colonel  Burr  was  again 
on  the  alert,  arranging  his  miscellaneous  forces,  and  preparing 
to  march  on  the  morrow  in  pursuit.  But  in  the  morning,  came 
peremptory  orders  for  his  regiment  to  join  the  main  body  of 
the  army  in  Pennsylvania,  where  Washington  was  fighting 
hand  to  hand  with  the  British  for  the  possession  of  Philadel 
phia,  with  large  odds  against  him.  For  forty-eight  hours 
he  had  not  once  closed  his  eyes,  nor  scarcely  sat  down ; 
yet  nothing  but  the  arrival  of  these  orders  could  have  held 
him  back  from  an  impetuous  march  after  the  flying  enemy. 
For  fifty  years  the  events  of  these  exciting  days  and  nights 
were  narrated  in  the  county ;  where,  to  the  last,  Colonel 
Burr  had  devoted  friends.  In  the  army  the  story  of  his  tak 
ing  off  the  picket  so  neatly  gave  him  new  popularity. 

In  all  his  busy  career,  Colonel  Burr  could  scarcely  ever  have 
been  more  absorbed  in  his  duties  than  while  thus  drilling  and 
fighting  his  regiment  in  Orange  county,  during  the  first  weeks 
of  his  exercising  independent  command.  Yet  it  was  there  and 
.hen  that  he  formed  an  acquaintance  with  a  lady  who,  if  we 
Liay  believe  a  lover's  language,  first  made  him  respect  the  in 
tellect  of  woman,  and  to  whom  he  owed  the  happiest  hours 
the  happiest  years,  of  his  existence. 

At  Paramus,  sixteen  miles  from  where  his  regiment  lay, 
there  lived,  in  modest  elegance,  a  family  of  the  name  of  Pre- 
trost,  a  branch  of  a  family  distinguished  in  the  society  and  in 
vhe  annals  of  England.  Colonel  Prevost  was  with  his  regi- 


104  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BTJ11R. 

ment  in  the  "West  Indies,  and  at  Paramus  lived  his  wife,  Theo 
dosia  Prevost,  her  sister  Miss  De  Visme,  and  their  mother 
Mrs.  De  Visme,  and  the  two  little  sons  of  Colonel  and  Mrs 
Prevost.  The  ladies  were  accomplished  and  intelligent ;  for 
a  long  time  their  house  had  been  the  center  of  the  most  ele 
gant  society  of  the  vicinity,  and  after  the  Revolution  had  be* 
gun,  officers  of  rank  in  the  American  army  still  visited  them. 
By  the  strict  law  of  the  state  they  would  have  been  compelled 
to  withdraw  to  the  British  army,  and  some  of  the  severer 
Whigs  wished  the  law  to.be  enforced  in  their  case,  as  it  had 
been  in  others.  But  these  ladies,  besides  being  beloved  in 
the  neighborhood,  guarded  their  conduct  with  so  much  tact 
that  no  very  serious  opposition  was  made  to  their  residence 
within  the  American  lines.  The  sudden  death  of  Colonel  Pre 
vost  in  the  West  Indies  gave  them  at  length  the  right  to 
embrace  either  party  in  the  great  dispute.  When  Colone1 
Burr  took  the  command  in  that  part  of  the  country,  the  Pre- 
vosts  held  their  old  position,  and  their  house  was  a  favorite 
resort  of  the  American  officers.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  his  ac 
quaintance  with  the  family  began  on  that  night  of  terror  when 
the  British  threatened  to  lay  waste  the  country,  and  the 
American  militia  attacked  the  farm  fences.  If  so,  the  young 
soldier  must  have  presented  himself  to  the  ladies  in  the  char 
acter  that  ladies  love,  that  of  a  hero  and  protector ;  a  protec 
tor  from  the  ravages  of  troops  who  were  there  for  the  express 
purpose  of  plundering  and  destroying.  Be  that  as  it  may,  it 
is  certain  that  about  this  time  Mrs.  Prevost  and  Colonel  Burr 
conceived  for  each  ether  a  regard  which  rapidly  warmed  into 
an  ardent  passion. 

But  there  was  no  time  for  dalliance  now ;  he  at  once  began 
his  march  across  New  Jersey,  using  all  his  usual  vigilance 
to  avoid  the  enemy,  who  were  known  to  be  in  motion,  but 
for  what  object  was  uncertain.  In  November,  1777,  he  joined 
the  main  army,  twenty  miles  above  Philadelphia,  and  aftei 
holding  a  position  in  advance  for  some  weeks,  went  into  winter 
quarters,  with  the  rest  of  the  troops,  at  Valley  Forge. 

There,  as  elsewhere,  his  relations  with  the  commander-in. 
Jiief  were  unfortunate.  He  planned  an  expedition  against  tht 


H3     COMMANDS     A     REGIMENT.  lOfi 

British  posts  oil  Staten  Island,  the  localities  and  inhabitants 
of  which  had  been  familiar  to  him  from  childhood.  He  pro 
posed  the  scheme  to  General  Washington,  and  asked  for  two 
hundred  men  of  his  own  regiment  as  a  nucleus,  relying  on  his 
ability  to  raise  the  country  in  case  he  should  appear  there 
with  a  respectable  body  of  troops.  General  Washington  re 
jected  the  proposal ;  and  when,  afterward,  he  acted  upon  the 
idea,  gave  the  command  of  the  expedition  to  Lord  Stirling, 
under  whom  it  proved  a  failure.  There,  too,  as  elsewhere, 
Colonel  Burr  contrived  to  distinguish  himself  in  circumstances 
that  gave  no  promise  of  an  opportunity.  The  American  army 
had  gone  into  winter  quarters  after  a  succession  of  discom 
fitures ;  and  being  still  in  the  neighborhood  of  a  powerful  en 
emy,  and  far  less  able  to  cope  with  him  than  before,  they  were 
discouraged  and  nervous.  Ten  miles  from  the  town  of  hovels 
in  which  the  main  body  cowered,  shivered  and  starved  during 
that  dreadful  winter,  there  was  a  pass  called  the  Gulf,  from 
^hich  the  alarm  was  to  be  expected  if  the  British  army  should 
menace  an  attack.  A  strong  body  of  militia  was  stationed 
there  to  defend  the  pass  and  to  watch  the  movements  of  the 
enemy.  These  militia  fancied  they  heard  the  tramp  of  British 
columns  in  every  nocturnal  noise,  and  were  continually  send 
ing  false  alarms  to  head-quarters,  which  obliged  the  general  to 
get  the  troops  under  arms,  and,  frequently,  to  keep  them  or? 
the  alert  during  the  whole  night.  These  alarms,  it  was  soon 
found,  arose  from  the  want  of  a  proper  system  of  observation, 
and  from  a  general  looseness  of  discipline  in  the  corps.  In 
these  circumstances,  General  McDougal,  who  well  knew  the 
quality  of  Colonel  Burr  as  a  soldier,  recommended  General. 
Washington  to  withdraw  from  the  guard  at  the  Gulf  all 
*  fficers  superior  in  rank  to  Burr,  and  give  him  the  command 
of  the  post.  It  was  done. 

On  taking  the  command,  Colonel  Burr  proceeded  at  once  to 
put  in  force  a  system  of  the  most  rigorous  discipline.  He  was 
ubiquitous  as  usual ;  visiting  the  most  remote  sentinels  pre 
cisely  at  the  moment  when  he  was  least  expected,  and  when  his 
presence  was  least  agreeable.  The  daily  drills  were  severe 
wad  regular  ;  his  detection  of  offenders  magical  and  relentless, 

5* 


106  LIFE     DF     AAEON     BtJKE. 

To  militiamen,  who  had  been  accustomed,  while  in  wintei 
quarters,  to  lead  lives  of  perfect  idleness,  to  leave  camp  and 
return  to  it  almost  at  their  pleasure,  and  to  regard  all  porsona 
possessing  property  calculated  to  solace  the  tedium  of  a  sol 
dier's  winter,  in  the  light  of  Tories,  whom  it  was  patriotism  to 
plunder,  Colonel  Burr's  system  was  insupportable.  The  bet 
ter  class  of  the  troops  saw  that  this  unaccustomed  rigor  was 
necessary ;  but  a  majority  were  exceedingly  discontented,  and 
finally  resolved,  at  any  cost,  to  rid  themselves  of  their  com 
mander.  Burr  was  informed  of  their  intention,  and  of  the  time 
when  he  was  to  receive  his  quietus.  That  evening,  before  or 
dering  out  the  detachment,  he  caused  every  cartridge  to  te 
withdrawn  from  the  muskets,  and  provided  himself  with  a 
well-sharpened  sword.  It  was  a  bright,  moonlight  evening,  and 
as  he  marched  along  the  line  he  looked  the  ringleaders  in  the 
face,  keenly  watching  for  the  first  offensive  movement.  At 
length  a  man  stepped  from  the  ranks,  leveled  his  musket  at 
him,  and  cried  out,  "  Now  is  your  time,  my  boys."  With  a 
quickness  and  self-possession  peculiarly  his  own,  Colonel  Burr 
raised  his  sword  and  struck  the  arm  of  the  mutineer  above  the 
elbow,  breaking  the  bone,  and  leaving  the  limb  hanging  by 
little  more  than  the  skin. 

"  Take  your  place  in  the  line,  sir,"  said  the  colonel,  quietly. 

The  man  obeyed.  In  a  few  minutes  the  corps  was  dismissed ; 
the  man  went  to  bed  ;  the  amputation  of  the  arm  was  com 
pleted  by  the  surgeon ;  and  no  more  was  heard  of  the  mutiny. 
While  Colonel  Burr  commanded  at  that  post,  the  army  slept 
in  their  huts  undisturbed.  There  was  not  one  false  alarm. 

It  was  during  this  winter  that  the  popularity  of  General 
Gates,  and  the  discontents  of  some  officers  nearer  the  person 
of  General  Washington,  gave  rise  to  the  well-known  cabal  to 
supplant  the  commander-in-chief.  During  the  previous  autumn, 
while  Washington  had  lost  Philadelphia,  and  experienced  lit 
tie  but  disaster,  the  fortune  of  war,  rather  than  his  own  gene 
-alsbip,  had  given  Gates  the  glory  of  Burgoyne's  surrender 
MI  event  which  electrified  the  world,  and  raised  General  Gates 
to  a  popularity  disproportioned  to  his  merits.  Colonel  Bur* 
was  too  young  an  officer  to  take  a  leading  part  in  the  move 


HE     COMMANDS     A     REGIMENT.  107 

ments  against  General  Washington  ;  but  it  appears  to  have  had 
his  sympathy.  His  dislike  to  the  general  was  rooted  ;  and  the 
general,  though  he  trusted  and  valued  Colonel  Burr  as  an 
office^-,  is  i?<aid,  even  at  this  time,  to  have  distrusted  him  as  a 
man. 

With  the  commencement  of  active  operations  in  the  spring 
these  intrigues  ceased;  and  the  murmurs  against  the  com- 
mander-in-chief  were  soon  drowned  in  the  applause  which  re 
warded  his  partial  success  at  the  battle  of  Monmouth.  In  that 
action  Colonel  Burr  commanded,  in  the  absence  of  his  seniors, 
one  of  the  brigades  of  Lord  Stirling's  division,  the  brigade 
consisting  of  his  own  regiment,  and  parts  of  two  others.  On 
this  occasion,  his  activity  and  vigilance,  his  long-continued  ex 
ertions  during  three  of  the  hottest  days  and  nights  of  summer, 
came  near  proving  fatal  to  him.  All  through  the  sultry  night 
that  preceded  the  battle,  he  was  on  the  alert,  surveying  the 
ground  and  preparing  for  the  fight. 

From  before  the  dawn  of  the  eventful  day  until  late  in  the 
evening,  his  men  were  under  arms,  either  engaged  or  waiting 
orders,  exposed  to  a  sun  so  powerful  as  to  be  only  less  fatal 
than  the  enemy's  fire.  Toward  noon,  while  Stirling  was  thun 
dering  away  with  his  artillery  at  the  enemy,  Colonel  Buri 
perceived  a  detachment  of  the  British  issuing  opposite  him 
from  the  wood  which  hemmed  in  the  small  marshy  plain  in 
which  the  battle  was  fought.  Before  him  was  a  morass  over 
which  a  bridge  had  been  thrown  to  the  solid  ground  beyond. 
Eager  for  a  share  in  the  glory  of  the  day,  he  instantly  gave 
the  word  for  his  brigade  to  cross  this  bridge,  and  march  to 
ward  the  approaching  enemy.  When  about  half  his  force  had 
crossed,  and  were  within  the  enemy's  fire,  one  of  General 
Washington's  aids  galloped  up  to  Colonel  Burr  and  ordered 
him  to  halt  his  men,  and  hold  them  where  they  were  until  fur 
ther  orders.  Burr  remonstrated  vehemently.  He  said  it  war 
madness  to  halt  with  his  force  so  divided  that  it  could  not  be 
formed,  and  though  within  range  of  the  enemy's  artillery 
could  make  no  effectual  resistance.  The  aid-de-camp  replied 
lhat  the  order  was  peremptory  and  must  be  obeyed,  then 
™le  away,  leaving  Colonel  Burr  in  a  position  most  distressing. 


*08  LIFE     OP     AAEON     BUBB. 

The  cannon-balls  soon  began  to  roar  above  the  heads  of  his 
men,  and  to  strike  with  threatening  proximity.  Soon  Colonel 
Burr  saw  brave  men  begin  to  fall  about  him,  in  consequence, 
as  he  thought,  of  blundering  generalship ;  and  his  feelings 
toward  the  commander-in-chief  were  deeply  embittered.  In 
a  few  minutes  Colonel  Dummer,  second  in  comand  to  Buri, 
was  killed ;  and,  soon  after,  at  a  moment  when  Colonel  Bun- 
had  by  chance  thrown  his  leg  forward,  a  ball  struck  his  horse 
on  the  saddle-girth,  killed  the  animal  instantly,  and  tumbled 
his  rider  headlong  on  the  ground.  Burr  was  up  again  in  a 
moment  uninjured.  As  no  further  orders  arrived,  the  men  who 
had  crossed  the  bridge  rejoined  their  comrades ;  and  what 
their  commander  had  fondly  hoped  would  have  been  a  glorious 
and  successful  charge  resulted  in  confusion,  demoralization, 
and  loss.  Smarting  under  this  disappointment,  it  is  not  sur 
prising  that  Burr  should  have  warmly  taken  the  side  of  Gen 
eral  Lee  in  the  contest  which  ensued  between  that  officer  and 
General  Washington.  It  was  in  a  letter  to  Burr  that  Lee 
made  the  remark  frequently  quoted,  that  he  was  going  to 
resign  his  commission,  retire  to  Virginia,  and  learn  to  hoe 
tobacco,  "  which  I  find,"  said  tho  irate  and  sarcastic  general, 
"  is  the  best  school  to  form  a  consummate  general." 

It  was  late  in  the  night  after  the  battle,  before  Colonel  Burr 
threw  himself  upon  the  ground  to  sleep.  What  with  the  heat, 
and  with  his  labors,  which  had  been  unremitted  for  forty  hours, 
he  was  completely  exhausted,  and  he  sank  into  so  profound  a 
sleep  that  he  had  lain  for  some  hours  in  the  morning  sun  be 
fore  he  awoke.  The  effect  of  this  exposure  was  extremely 
injurious.  On  getting  up  he  could  scarcely  walk,  so  stiffened 
were  his  limbs ;  and  in  the  course  of  the  day  worse  symptoms 
Appeared.  His  constitution  did  not  recover  from  the  effects 
of  those  days  and  nights  at  Monmouth  for  more  than  five 
fears,  the  disease  having  finally  taken  the  form  of  chronic 
diarrhea,  from  which  his  abstemiousness  in  diet  at  length,  but 
very  gradually,  relieved  him.  During  the  rest  of  the  J^fon* 
mouth  campaign,  it  was  with  diifici  Ity  and  pain  that  he  per 
formed  the  duties  of  his  command. 

Immediately  after  the  battle,  he  was  dispatched  by  Genera, 


HE     COMMANDS     A     EEGIMENT.  10ft 

Washington  to  move  about  in  the  vicinity  of  New  York,  to 
procure  information  respecting  the  motions  and  intentions  of 
the  enemy ;  which  latter  it  was  of  the  first  importance  to  as 
certain.  He  was  desired  "  to  send  one,  two,  or  three  trusty 
persons  over  to  the  city  to  get  the  reports,  the  newspapers, 
and  the  truth,  if  they  can,"  and  "  to  employ  three,  four  or 
more  persons  to  go  to  Bergen  Heights,  Weehawk,  Hoebuck, 
or  any  other  heights  thereabout,  convenient  to  observe  the 
motions  of  the  enemy's  shipping."  This  commission  he  exe 
cuted  to  the  satisfaction  of  General  Washington,  and,  return 
mg  after  an  absence  of  some  weeks  to  the  main  body,  was 
ordered  to  march  with  his  regiment  to  West  Point,  "  with  all 
convenient  dispatch,  marching  ten  miles  a  day,  as  water  and 
ground  will  permit."  The  regiment,  however,  marched  with 
out  its  commanding  officer,  as  he  was  selected  by  General 
Washington  to  perform  the  delicate  duty  of  conducting  cer 
tain  influential  Tories  within  the  British  lines.  That  done,  he 
proceeded  to  West  Point,  his  health  being  then  completely 
broken. 

Finding  himself  in  the  autumn  quite  unfit  for  duty,  he  took 
a  short  leave,  and  spent  a  few  weeks  at  his  old  home  in  Eliza- 
bethtown,  greatly  to  the  improvement  of  his  health.  Assured 
that  nothing  but  some  months  of  repose  would  place  him  be 
yond  the  danger  of  relapse,  he  applied  to  General  Washing 
ton  for  leave  "  to  retire  from  pay  and  duty"  till  the  next  cam 
paign.  "  My  anxiety  to  be  out  of  pay,"  said  he,  "  arises  in  no 
measure  from  intention  or  wish  to  avoid  any  requisite  service. 
But  too  great  a  regard  to  malicious  surmises,  and  a  delicacy 
perhaps  censurable,  might  otherwise  hurry  me  unnecessarily 
pito  service,  to  the  prejudice  of  my  health,  and  without  any 
Advantage  to  the  public."  General  Washington  replied  that 
this  was  carrying  delicacy  a  little  too  far ;  it  was  not  custom 
»ry,  and  it  would  be  unjust ;  and,  therefore,  while  he  had  the 
leave  asked  for,  his  pay  would  be  continued.  Upon  the  re 
ceipt  of  the  general's  reply,  Colonel  Burr  repaired  forthwith 
to  West  Point,  being  unwilling  to  accept  a  furlough  unless  his 
i»ay  was  intermitted. 

During  part  of  the  winter  he  was  the  officer  in  command  oi 


110  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

that  important  post.  He  was  now  twenty-three  years  old,  but 
the  youthfulness  of  his  appearance  still  gave  rise  to  ludicrous 
incidents.  One  day,  while  he  was  at  West  Point,  a  farmer 
came  to  the  works,  and  asked  to  see  Colonel  Burr.  An  or 
derly  sergeant  conducted  him  to  the  apartment  where  Colonel 
Burr  was. 

"  Sir,"  said  the  farmer,  "  I  wish  to  see  Colonel  Burr,  as  I 
have  something  to  say  to  him." 

"  You  may  proceed,"  was  the  reply,  "  I  am  Colonel  Burr." 

The  countryman  looked  incredulous,  and  said,  "  I  suppose 
you  are  Colonel  Burr's  son." 

The  sentinel  at  the  door  overheard  this  colloquy,  and  Burr 
thus  acquired  the  nickname  in  the  regiment  of  Colonel  Jiurr's 
ton. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE   WESTCHESTER   LINES. 

ObmunoN  OF  THE  COUNTRY  BEFORE  COLONEL  BURR  TOOK  THE  COMMAND  — 

88  PLUNDERING  —  His  HABITS  AS  A  SOLDIER  —  DESTROYS  THE  BLOCK  FORT  — 
LOVE  ADVENTURE  BY  NIGHT  —  EESIGNS  HIS  COMMISSION  —  TESTIMONY  OF  THB 
MEN  WHOM  HE  COMMANDED  —  ANECDOTES — INTERVIEW  WITH  MRS.  ARNOLD  AT 
PABAMUS  — EFFECTS  OF  THE  WAR  UPON  HIS  CHARACTER  AND  FORTUNE. 

IN  January,  1779,  Colonel  Burr  was  appointed  to  a  post  of 
greater  importance  and  difficulty  than  any  he  had  previously 
held,  and  one  in  which  he  acquired  his  greatest  distinction  as 
a  soldier.  He  was  placed  in  command  of  the  "lines"  in  West 
Chester  county,  New  York,  a  region  lying  between  the  posts  of 
the  British  at  Kingsbridge,  and  those  of  the  Americans  fifteen 
or  twenty  miles  above  them. 

This  district  of  country,  from  the  day  the  British  were  mas 
ters  of  the  city  of  New  York,  was  more  exposed  to  the  worst 
ravages  of  war  than  any  other  portion  of  the  United  States 
A  gentleman  who  lived  in  it  during  the  first  five  years  of  the 
contest,  says  that  the  county  was  "  a  scene  of  the  deepest  dis 
tress.  From  the  Grot  on  to  Kingsbridge  every  species  of  rap 
ine  and  lawless  violence  prevailed.  No  man  went  to  his  bed 
but  under  the  apprehension  of  having  his  house  plundered  or 
burned,  and  himself  or  family  massacred  before  morning.  Some, 
under  the  character  of  Whigs,  plundered  the  Tories  ;  while 
others,  of  the  latter  description,  plundered  the  Whigs.  Par 
ties  of  marauders,  assuming  either  character  or  none,  as 
suited  their  convenience,  indiscriminately  assailed  both  Whigs 
and  Tories.  So  little  vigilance  was  used  on  our  part,  that  em 
issaries  and  spies  of  the  enemy  passed  and  repassed  without  in 
terruption."  What  added  to  the  evil  was,  that  the  lower  part 
of  the  county  contained  a  large  number  of  houses  of  consider 
able  pretension,  the  residences  of  wealthy  farmers  or  wealthiei 


112  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BURR. 

Citizens.      The  region  was  one  to  reward  enterprising  ma. 
rauders. 

Colonel  Burr  entered  upon  the  command  of  the  "  lines" 
on  the  13th  of  January ;  his  head-quarters  being  at  White 
Plains,  twenty-seven  miles  above  the  city.  His  line  of  posts 
xtended  from  the  Hudson  to  the  Sound,  fourteen  miles 
White  Plains  being  midway  between  the  two  waters.  His 
great  objects  were  to  prevent  unlicensed  communication  with 
the  enemy,  to  keep  their  spies  from  reaching  the  upper  coun 
try,  and  to  put  a  stop  to  the  scenes  of  robbery  and  bloodshed 
for  which  the  region  was  notorious. 

The  very  morning  on  which  he  assumed  the  command,  an 
occurrence  took  place  which  let  him  into  the  secret  of  the 
disorders.  On  his  arrival  in  camp,  a  few  days  before,  he  had 
discovered  that  of  all  the  duties  devolving  on  the  force  about 
to  be  under  his  command,  the  one  most  in  favor  with  officers 
and  with  privates,  with  regulars  and  with  militia,  was  scout 
ing  ;  and  that  an  expedition  of  the  kind  was  then  on  foot,  to 
be  led  by  Colonel  Littlefield,  Burr's  predecessor.  Not  wish 
ing  to  begin  his  reign  with  an  ungracious  act  of  authority,  he 
did  not  countermand  the  proposed  excursion,  though  its  advis- 
ableness  was  by  no  means  apparent  to  him.  On  the  contrary, 
he  thought  it  ill-advised,  and  unnecessary.  Nevertheless,  on 
the  very  evening  before  he  entered  formally  upon  the  duties 
of  the  station,  Colonel  Littlefield,  with  his  scouting  party  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  men,  set  out  from  White  Plains,  with 
the  ostensible  object  of  watching  the  enemy's  movements  in 
the  neighborhood  of  New  Rochelle.  Colonel  Burr  was  most 
strenuous  in  urging  Littlefield  to  respect  the  property  of 
friend  and  foe.  The  party  were  gone  all  night.  In  the  morn- 
ing,  to  the  equal  astonishment  and  disgust  of  Colonel  Burr, 
the  troops  came  straggling  in  loaded  with  plunder,  and  lead 
ing  horses  with  mountains  of  bedding,  blankets,  and  clothing 
on  their  backs.  Officers  and  men  seemed  equally  concerned 
in  the  robberies.  Before  the  party  had  been  in  an  hour, 
farmers  from  New  Rochelle  came  into  camp  complaining 
piteously  of  the  plunder  of  their  houses  and  stables,  asserting 
their  friendliness  to  the  patriotic  cause,  and  imploring  Colony 


THE    WESTCHESTER     LINES.  llii 

Burr  to  restore  their  property.  "  Sir,"  wrote  that  officer  in 
his  report  to  General  McDougal,  "  till  now,  I  never  wished 
for  arbitrary  power ;  I  could  gibbet  half  a  dozen  good  Whiga 
with  all  the  venom  of  an  inveterate  Tory !" 

Colonel  Burr's  resolution  was  instantly  taken.  The  plunder, 
as  it  came  in,  was  deposited  by  the  plunderers  in  a  certain 
pot,  to  await  an  equitable  division  among  the  zealous  party. 
Burr  seized  the  whole  of  it,  and  proceeded  immediately  to 
take  measures  for  its  restoration.  He  took  so  decided  a  stand 
on  the  occasion,  and  made  it  so  evident  that  he  was  in  earnest, 
and  that  he  was  a  man  to  be  obeyed,  that  this  affair,  appa 
rently  inauspicious,  was  the  beginning  of  a  new  order  of  things 
in  the  Westchester  lines.  For  the  time,  however,  he  was 
utterly  disgusted ;  particularly  when  he  found  that  the  offi 
cers,  nearly  to  a  man,  secretly  or  openly  favored  the  system 
of  plunder.  "  Truly  an  ominous  commencement,"  he  wrote 
to  his  general.  "  Is  this  the  promised  protection  f  I  read  in 
the  face  of  every  child  I  pass ;  for  the  whole  honor  of  the  ex 
pedition  redounds  to  me.  I  now  perceive,"  he  added,  "  from 
whence  arose  the  ardor  for  scouting."  The  old  general  ap 
proved  his  conduct,  but  advised  him  to  deal  tenderly  with  the 
plunderers,  "  as  they  are  brave,  and  are  very  sore  by  the  plun 
dering  of  the  Tories." 

Burr  began  that  very  day  to  set  on  foot  a  new  system.  He 
rode  to  every  post  before  night  set  in,  and  announced  his  de 
termination  to  protect  all  the  peaceable  inhabitants  of  the 
county,  whether  Whig  or  Tory,  and  to  punish  all  marauders 
with  the  utmost  severity  of  military  law.  Any  officer  who  so 
much  as  connived  at  robbery  he  would  send  up  to  the  general's 
quarters  with  a  file  of  men,  the  hour  the  crime  was  discovered. 
He  began,  immediately,  to  make  out  a  list  of  all  the  inhabit 
ants  of  the  district,  and  divided  them  into  classes,  Tories, 
Whigs,  timid  Whigs,  spies,  horse-thieves,  and  others,  designat 
ing  each  by  certain  secret  marks  opposite  his  name.  He  also 
made  the  outline  of  a  map,  on  which,  as  his  knowledge  of  the 
country  increased,  he  marked  the  roads,  swamps,  creeks,  woods, 
hiding  places  and  by-paths,  whbh  might  be  made  available 
by  disaffected  persons  in  escaping  pursuit,  or  evading  ob 


114  LIFE     OF     AARON     BUKB. 

nervation.  He  organized  the  respectable  young  men  of  the 
county  into  a  corps  of  horsemen,  to  serve  without  pay,  and  on 
special  services  when  summoned,  and  in  transmitting  intelli 
gence.  So  complete  and  efficient  a  system  of  videttes,  patrols, 
and  signals  was  established,  that  nothing  of  the  slightest  im 
portance  could  take  place  in  any  part  of  the  county  without 
immediate  information  of  it  being  dispatched  to  head-quarters. 
To  prevent  the  intrusion  of  the  enemy's  spies,  who  had  fre 
quently  come  to  head-quarters  on  frivolous  pretexts,  he  would 
not  allow  any  one  who  lived  below  his  line  of  posts  to  pass 
them,  but  appointed  a  few  well-known  persons  to  receive  their 
communications  and  complaints,  and  forward  them  to  head 
quarters.  Another  advantage  of  this  regulation  was,  that  it 
diminished  the  number  of  vexatious  applications  for  redress,  of 
slight  or  imaginary  grievances,  with  which  previous  command 
ers  had  been  beset. 

Colonel  Burr  soon  had  an  opportunity  of  showing  the 
troops  and  the  people  that  he  would  be  as  strict  in  enforcing 
his  regulations  as  he  was  ingenious  in  devising  them.  A  few 
days  after  the  affair  of  the  scouters,  the  house  of  one  Gedney 
was  robbed  by  night,  and  the  family  insulted  and  alarmed. 
The  next  morning,  a  son  of  Gedney,  disregarding  the  rule 
that  no  one  from  below  might  go  direct  to  head-quarters,  made 
his  way*,  by  secret  paths,  to  Colonel  Burr,  and  laid  before  him 
his  complaint.  Burr's  first  act  was  to  order  the  young  man 
into  confinement  for  breaking  the  rule ;  which  done,  he  bent 
all  his  energies  and  all  the  resources  of  his  system  to  the  de 
tection  of  the  plunderers.  He  rode  over  to  the  plundered 
house,  where  he  learned  that  the  marauders,  having  worn 
disguises,  had  not  been  recognized  by  Gedney  or  his  family. 
By  what  means  he  detected  them  was  unknown ;  but  before 
twenty-four  hours  had  elapsed,  every  man  of  the  party  had 
been  secured,  and  a  great  part  of  the  stolen  property  recov 
ered.  Upon  referring  to  his  register,  Colonel  Burr  found  that 
Gedney  was  a  Tory  ;  but  he  was  known  to  have  taken  no  active 
part  against  the  patriots ;  and  Burr  had  promised  that  all  such 
should  be  protected.  He  therefore  caused  the  robbers  to  be 
irawn  up  in  presence  of  the  troops,  laden  with  .their  booty 


THE    WESTCHESTER    LINES.  lift 

and  then  had  them  conducted  by  a  company  of  soldiers  to 
Gedney's  house.  There,  he  required  them,  first,  to  restore 
the  stolen  goods ;  next,  to  pay  in  money  for  such  as  had  been 
lost  or  damaged ;  thirdly,  he  compelled  each  man  to  present 
Gedney  with  a  sum  of  money,  as  a  compensation  for  his  fright 
and  loss  of  time  ;  fourthly,  he  had  each  robber  tied  up  and 
flogged  ten  lashes ;  lastly,  he  made  each  of  them  ask  pardon 
of  the  old  man,  and  promise  good  behavior  in  future.  All 
these  things  were  done  with  the  utmost  deliberation  and  ex 
actness,  and  the  effects  produced  by  them  were  magical.  Not 
another  house  was  plundered,  not  another  family  was  alarmed, 
while  Colonel  Burr  commanded  in  the  Westchester  lines.  The 
mystery  and  swiftness  of  the  detection,  the  rigor  and  fairness 
with  which  the  marauders  were  treated,  overawed  the  men 
whom  three  campaigns  of  lawless  warfare  had  corrupted,  and 
restored  confidence  to  the  people  who  had  passed  their  lives 
in  terror. 

That  Colonel  Burr  was  a  wizard  or  necromancer,  and  could 
tell  a  thief  by  looking  into  his  face,  was  the  firm  belief  of  a 
large  number  of  his  men  ;  an  opinion  which  received  frequent 
confirmation  from  the  remarkable  talent  he  possessed  for  hold 
ing  his  tongue  till  the  moment  arrived  for  speaking.  Among 
other  incidents,  the  following  was  adduced  as  a  proof  of  his 
supernatural  powers.  On  the  day  of  his  arrival  in  camp,  be 
fore  he  had  assumed  the  command,  and  before  he  had  estab 
lished  any  means  of  procuring  intelligence,  he  visited  all  the 
posts,  and  took  a  wide  survey  of  the  country.  On  his  return, 
he  said  to  a  lieutenant  whom  he  knew,  "  Drake,  that  post  on 
the  North  river  will  be  attacked  before  morning;  neither 
^fficers  nor  men  know  any  thing  of  their  duty  ;  you  must  go 
and  take  charge  of  it ;  keep  your  eyes  open,  or  you  will  have 
your  throat  cut."  Lieutenant  Drake  went,  and  the  event  proved 
as  Burr  had  predicted.  The  fort  was  attacked  that  night  by 
t  company  of  horse,  whom  Drake  repulsed,  with  loss  to  them 
and  honor  to  himself.  When  be  returned  next  morning  tc 
head-quarters,  bearing  with  him  the  trophies  of  war,  and  told 
his  story  to  his  comrades,  every  one  wonderingly  asked,  ho\v 
could  Burr  know  that  ¥ 


»16  LIFE     OP     AAEON    BUBB. 

The  habits  of  the  man,  too,  were  the  theme  of  admiration 
among  the  troops.  His  diet  was  simple  and  spare  in  the  ex 
treme ;  he  slept  as  lightly  as  a  hare,  and  a  wonderfully  short 
time.  He  would  throw  himself  upon  a  couch  of  buffalo  skins, 
all  accoutered  as  he  was,  sometimes  without  even  taking  off  his 
boots,  and  after  sleeping  an  hour  or  two,  vould  spring  up, 
perfectly  awake  in  a  moment,  and,  calling  two  or  three  of  hia 
trusty  horsemen,  mount  and  ride  from  post  to  post,  visiting 
every  guard  and  sentinel  of  his  command,  and  returning  at 
daylight  to  snatch  another  hour  of  sleep.  During  the  whole 
of  that  winter,  with  the  exception  of  two  nights,  when  he  was 
very  differently  employed,  he  rode  from  sixteen  to  twenty- 
four  miles  every  night,  between  midnight  and  daylight,  chang 
ing  his  route  continually,  so  that  he  was  always  expected  at 
all  points ;  and  if  at  any  time  he  was  less  expected  than  at  any 
other,  then,  of  all  other  times,  he  was  sure  to  present  himself. 
He  thus  at  every  station  exerted  the  spell  of  his  personal  pres 
ence,  and  every  man  acted  as  under  the  eye  of  his  commander. 
While  requiring  from  officers  and  men  an  amount  of  duty  and 
an  exact  obedience  to  which  they  had  never  before  been  ac 
customed,  he  was  not  less  particular  in  attending  to  their 
nealth,  comfort,  and  pleasure.  Their  clothing,  food,  lodgings, 
and  medicines,  were  objects  of  his  thoughtful  care,  and  he 
even  contrived  games  for  the  amusement  of  the  men  when  off 
duty. 

Men  treated  justly,  and  commanded  ably,  never  behave  in 
any  but  one  way,  and  that  is  gloriously  well.  The  troops 
under  command  of  Colonel  Burr  did  so.  They  caught  hia 
spirit,  and  seconded  his  endeavors  with  enthusiasm.  During 
the  first  weeks  of  his  command,  there  were  several  contests 
with  gangs  of  horse-thieves  and  other  robbers,  in  which  the 
iroops  fought  with  Burr's  own  intrepidity.  Once,  in  that 
winter,  Governor  Tryon  came  out  of  New  York  with  two 
thousand  men  for  the  purpose  of  driving  off  cattle,  and  of 
destroying  certain  salt-works  in  Westchester  county,  on  th« 
shore  of  Long  Island  Sound.  Burr  received  instant  informa. 
tion  of  this  formidable  movement,  and  sent  word  to  Genera 
Putnam,  who  was  then  nearer  the  enemy  than  himself,  that  i 


THE     WESTCHESTER     LINES.  Ill 

&e  would  keep  them  at  bay  for  a  few  hours,  he  would  himself 
fall  upon  their  rear  and  give  a  good  account  of  them.  Burr 
set  out  immediately  with  all  his  force,  regular  and  irregular, 
and  marched  toward  the  Sound.  On  the  way  he  received  from 
General  Putnam  the  information  that  Tryon  had  turned  off 
toward  Connecticut ;  which  induced  Colonel  Burr  to  change 
the  direction  of  his  march.  A  few  hours  later,  he  learned 
that  this  information  was  erroneous,  when  he  again  altered 
his  course,  and  marched  with  such  rapidity  that  he  got  within 
cannon-shot  of  Governor  Tryon's  rear  before  night.  The 
British,  now  thoroughly  frightened,  made  off  with  such  celer 
ity  as  to  escape  Burr's  exhausted  force,  leaving  all  their  cattle 
and  plunder  behind  them,  and  a  large  number  of  stragglers. 

Soon  after  this  affair,  the  British  erected  a  block  fort  in  the 
lower  part  of  the  county,  which  Colonel  Burr  resolved  to 
destroy.  This  fort  was  in  the  enemy's  country,  within  a  few 
miles  of  a  post  where  some  thousands  of  the  British  troop? 
were  quartered ;  and  it  was  therefore  necessary  to  effect  its 
destruction  with  little  noise,  and  with  great  dispatch.  Ac 
cording  to  his  custom,  Colonel  Burr  began  by  personally  and 
thoroughly  inspecting  the  edifice,  and  the  country  adjacent ; 
noting  accurately  the  distances,  and  measuring  with  his  eye  the 
height  of  the  port-holes.  Hand-grenades,  rolls  of  port-fire, 
canteens  filled  with  inflammable  materials,  and  short  ladders, 
were  next  provided  ;  and  a  number  of  men,  volunteers,  were 
carefully  instructed  in  the  use  of  those  agents  of  destruction. 
Forty  volunteers  were  to  form  the  party  of  attack,  twenty  of 
whom  carried  the  inflammables  and  the  ladders.  Early  in  the 
evening  the  expedition  left  camp,  and  reached  a  place  one  mile 
from  the  fort  about  two  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Here  the 
oarty  halted.  Colonel  Burr  now  disposed  of  his  men  so  as  to 
tut  off  the  escape  of  the  garrison,  and  ordered  Captain  Black, 
with  the  party  of  volunteers,  to  advance  silently  and  swiftly 
to  the  fort,  disregarding  the  challenge  of  the  sentinels,  to 
^lace  the  ladders,  ind  throw  into  each  port-hole  a  mass  of  the 
combustibles  with  a  slow  match  attached.  The  plan  succeeded 
U>  admiration.  Before  the  garrison  was  awake,  the  fort  was 
•m  fire  past  extinguishing.  Hand-grenades  were  then  throwr 


l!8  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

into  the  upper  port-holes,  which  drove  the  troops  below.  IB 
a  very  few  minutes  they  were  glad  enough  to  escape  from  the 
burning  house  and  surrender.  The  fort  was  completely  de 
stroyed,  and  Colonel  Burr  reached  camp  soon  after  daybreak, 
with  a  long  file  of  prisoners,  and  without  the  loss  of  a  single 
man  of  his  own  party.  The  success  of  this  little  enterprise, 
and  its  audacity,  gave  new  eclat  to  the  name  of  the  officer 
who  planned  it. 

Colonel  Burr's  night  rides  have  been  mentioned  above,  and 
an  allusion  made  to  the  fact  that  on  two  nights  of  the  wintei 
he  was  otherwise  engaged.  The  story  of  his  adventures  on 
those  nights  he  used  to  tell  with  peculiar  pleasure,  and  it  is 
surprising  that  so  singular  a  narrative  should  not  have  been 
given  to  the  public  by  some  of  the  collectors  of  revolutionary 
incidents.  The  tale  strikingly  exemplifies  Burr's  executive 
talent. 

Over  the  Hudson  river,  fifteen  miles  or  more  from  the 
shore,  lived  the  accomplished  and  charming  Mrs.  Prevost.  From 
his  outpost  on  the  Hudson,  Colonel  Burr  could  see  the  hill* 
among  which  nestled  the  home  of  this  beloved  family,  but  be 
tween  them  rolled  a  river,  two  miles  wide,  and  infested  with, 
the  gun-boats  and  sloops  of  the  enemy,  while  beyond  it 
stretched  an  expanse  of  country,  held  sometimes  by  one 
party,  sometimes  by  the  other,  but  either  of  whom  would, 
prevent  or  delay  the  progress  of  a  soldier  bound  on  an  errand 
of  love.  The  duties  of  Burr's  command,  too,  were  onerous 
and  incessant.  By  day,  he  was  an  autocratic  magistrate,  hear 
ing  complaints,  deciding  disputes,  writing  reports,  inspecting 
troops,  sending  off  prisoners,  purchasing  supplies.  We  see 
trim  sending  up  a  number  of  prisoners  handcuffed  in  couples 
and,  as  they  start,  the  guard  being  greatly  outnumbered  by 
them,  he  sends  a  sergeant  along  the  line  to  cut  the  strings  ot 
their  breeches,  which  obliged  them  to  employ  their  other  hand 
in  holding  up  that  important  garment.  Again,  he  writes  to 
the  general,  "  There  are  a  number  of  women  here  of  bad  char, 
acter,  who  are  continually  running  to  New  York  and  back 
again ;  if  they  were  men,  I  should  flog  them  without  mercy.' 
n,  he  is  scouring  the  country,  far  and  near,  for  shoes,  for 


THE     WEST  CHESTER    LINES.  119 

molasses,  for  wheat,  for  rum ;  which  last,  he  tells  the  general 
he  can  buy  at  White  Plains  at  twenty  dollars  a  gallon.  By 
night  he  was  riding  among  his  posts  and  sentinels,  knowing 
well  that  only  vigilance  like  his  kept  the  guards  from  being 
surprised ;  as  was  sufficiently  proved  when  that  vigilance  wafc 
withdrawn. 

Yet  in  spite  of  these  difficulties,  he  contrived  twice  during 
the  winter  to  visit  Paramus.  In  achieving  these  visits,  he 
equaled  Leander  in  daring,  and  surpassed  him  so  much  in  ir- 
genuity  as  to  get  over  his  Hellespont  with  a  dry  over-coac, 
and  to  go  glowing,  instead  of  dripping,  into  the  arms  of  his 
Hero.  Six  of  his  trustiest  troopers,  men  whom  he  knew  were 
devoted  to  him,  he  sent  early  in  the  evening  to  a  place  on  the 
banks  of  the  Hudson,  since  and  for  ever  made  classic  ground 
by  the  residence  of  Washington  Irving.  Under  the  lofty  bank 
of  the  river,  there  he  had  caused  an  ample  barge  to  be  moored, 
well  furnished  with  blankets  and  buffalo  skins.  Earlier  by 
some  hours  than  usual,  Burr  left  his  quarters  at  White  Plains^ 
mounted  on  a  small,  swift  horse,  and  galloped  rapidly  to  the 
river  side,  visiting  posts  and  sentries  as  he  went.  His  perfect 
manner  of  procuring  intelligence  had  made  him  certain  that 
nothing  requiring  his  presence  would  occur  before  morning 
yet  he  provided  for  every  probability  and  possibility  of  dan' 
ger,  and  for  any  unforeseen  delay  that  might  occur  in  his  re 
turn.  At  nine  in  the  evening,  his  faithful  troopers  at  the  barge 
heard  the  clattering  of  hoofs,  and  in  a  moment  their  command 
er  stood  in  their  midst,  bridle  in  hand.  Instantly,  and  with 
out  the  interchange  of  a  syllable,  the  girth  was  unloosened, 
ropes  were  adjusted  about  the  body  of  the  panting  steed,  an  1, 
by  the  method  well  known  to  farriers,  the  animal  was  gently 
thrown  and  bound ;  then  lifted  by  main  strength  and  placed 
on  the  bed  provided  for  him  in  the  boat.  Burr  stepped 
aboard ;  the  men  plied  the  muffled  oars  with  a  will ;  and, 
within  half  an  hour,  the  boat  grazed  the  opposite  shore.  In 
the  same  silence,  and  with  the  same  celerity,  as  before,  the 
horse  was  lifted  out,  unbound,  and  got  upon  his  feet.  A  little 
•ubbing  and  walking  up  and  down  restored  the  animal  to  hi? 
«ronted  condition.  The  boat  was  drawn  snugly  up  on  the 


120  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

shore ;  the  men  laid  down  in  the  bottom  of  it  to  sleep ;  while 
Burr  mounted  and  rode  rapidly  away  up  the  hill  toward  the 
home  of  his  heart.  Before  midnight,  he  was  there.  Two  hours 
of  bliss  flew  fast — how  swiftly,  lovers  know.  Then  again 
to  horse.  About  four  in  the  morning,  he  was  with  his  faithful 
crew  on  the  river's  bank,  when  the  poor  nag  was  astonished 
once  more  in  the  manner  just  described,  and  the  party  re. 
crossed  the  river.  Arrived  on  the  other  side,  Colonel  Burr 
mounted,  rode  over  to  camp,  which  was  seven  miles  from  the 
river,  challenging  sentinels,  visiting  posts,  and  comporting  him 
so  exactly  in  his  usual  manner,  that  not  the  slightest  suspicion 
arose  of  the  singular  way  in  which  he  had  passed  the  night.  A 
little  before  daylight,  quite  in  his  accustomed  style,  he  gave  up 
his  horse  and  threw  himself  upon  his  couch.  Except  the  two  or 
three  individuals  to  whom  the  secret  was  necessarily  confided, 
not  a  man  even  of  those  who  had  aided  him,  knew  the  object 
of  that  night  excursion.  Twice,  as  before  stated,  he  visited 
Mrs.  Prevost  in  the  same  manner,  and  with  equal  success, 
while  he  commanded  the  lines  of  Westchester. 

But  no  constitution  could  long  bear  such  exhausting  efforts, 
and  Burr's  was  seriously  impaired  when  he  began  them.  As 
the  spring  drew  on,  the  attacks  of  his  disease  became  more  fre 
quent,  and  he  was  compelled  to  the  conclusion  that  only  a  very 
long  period  of  repose  could  render  him  fit  for  the  duties  of 
a  campaign.  On  the  10th  of  March,  IT 7 9,  he  wrote  to  Gen 
eral  Washington  resigning  his  commission,  giving  as  the  rea 
son,  his  physical  inability  to  perform  the  duties  of  his  com 
mand.  General  Washington,  in  accepting  his  resignation, 
observed  that  "he  not  only  regretted  the  loss  of  a  good 
officer,  but  the  cause  which  made  his  resignation  necessary." 
And  so,  after  four  years  of  active  service,  Colonel  Burr  ceased 
o  belong  to  the  army. 

What  occurred  in  Westchester  after  his  retirement  show? 
in  a  striking  light  the  value  of  his  services  there.  Samuel 
Young,  who  lived  in  the  county  during  the  war,  and  was  one 
of  Burr's  troop  of  irregular  horse,  and  after  the  peace  held  the 
office  of  surrogate,  writes  with  more  minuteness  on  this  uoint 
Jian  any  other  of  Burr's  fellow-soldiers.  He  says  that  during 


THE    WESTCHESTER    LINES  121 

»he  period  of  Burr's  command,  only  two  attempts  were  made 
oy  the  enemy  to  surprise  our  guards,  in  both  of  which  they 
were  defeated  ;  but  after  he  left,  Colonel  Thompson,  "  a  man 
of  approved  bravery,"  succeeded,  and,  in  open  day,  the  enemy 
burprised  him  at  head-quarters,  took  him  prisoner,  killed  or 
captured  all  his  men,  except  about  thirty,  who  ran  away 
Soon  after,  Mr.  Young's  father's  house  was  burned  by  a  party 
of  the  enemy ;  and,  ere  long,  the  American  lines  were  moved 
twenty  miles  beyond  those  which  Burr  had  so  completely  de 
fended.  And  even  there  the  posts  were  not  safe  from  sur 
prise.  The  next  year  Colonel  Green,  who  then  commanded  in 
the  lines,  and  had  his  head-quarters  near  the  Croton  river, 
was  attacked  and  killed,  together  with  his  second  in  com 
mand,  and  a  large  number  of  officers  and  men. 

Mr.  Young  concludes  a  long  narrative  of  Colonel  Burr's 
achievements  in  Westchester  county,  in  the  following  words : 
"  Having  perused  what  I  have  written,  it  does  not  appear  to 
me  that  I  have  conveyed  any  adequate  idea  of  Burr's  military 
character.  It  may  be  aided  a  little  by  reviewing  the  effects 
he  produced.  The  troops  of  which  he  took  command  were, 
at  the  time  he  took  the  command,  undisciplined,  negligent, 
and  discontented.  Desertions  were  frequent.  In  a  few  days 
these  very  men  were  transformed  into  brave  and  honest  de 
fenders  ;  orderly,  contented,  and  cheerful ;  confident  in  their 
own  courage,  and  loving  to  adoration  their  commander,  whom 
every  man  considered  as  his  personal  friend.  It  was  thought 
a  severe  punishment,  as  well  as  disgrace,  to  be  sent  up  to  the 
camp,  where  they  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  lounge  and  eat 
their  rations.  During  the  whole  of  this  command  there  was 
not  a  single  desertion,  not  a  single  death  by  sickness,  not 
one  made  prisoner  by  the  enemy ;  for  Burr  had  taught  u§ 
that  a  soldier  with  arms  in  his  hands  ought  never,  under  any 
circumstances,  to  surrender  ;  no  matter  if  he  was  opposed  to 
thousands,  it  was  his  duty  t^  fight.  After  the  first  ten  days 
there  was  not  a  single  instance  of  robbery.  The  whole  coun- 
.ry  under  his  command  enjoyed  security.  The  inhabitants, 
to  express  their  gratitude,  frequently  brought  presents  of  sucb 
articles  as  the  country  afforded ;  but  Colonel  Burr  would  ac 


122  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

oept  no  present.  He  fixed  reasonable  prices,  and  paid  in  cash 
for  every  thing  that  was  received,  and  sometimes,  I  know,  that 
these  payments  were  made  with  his  own  money.  Whether 
these  advances  were  repaid,  I  know  not.  Colonel  Sirncoe,  one 
of  the  most  daring  and  active  partisans  in  the  British  army, 
was,  with  Colonels  Emerick  and  Delancey,  opposed  to  Burr  on 
he  lines,  yet  they  were  completely  held  in  check.  But  per- 
haps  the  highest  eulogy  on  Colonel  Burr  is,  that  no  man  could 
be  found  capable  of  executing  his  plans,  though  the  example 
was  before  them.  When  Burr  left  the  lines  a  sadness  over 
spread  the  country,  and  the  most  gloomy  forebodings  were  too 
soon  fulfilled." 

Richard  Platt,  who  was  adjutant-general  to  General  McDou- 
gal  at  the  time,  speaks  of  Colonel  Burr's  conduct  in  similar 
terms.  The  officers,  the  soldiers,  and  the  inhabitants,  he  says, 
though  all  unknown  to  Colonel  Burr  before,  "  were  inspired 
with  confidence  by  a  system  of  consummate  skill,  astonishing 
vigilance,  and  extreme  activity,  which,  in  like  manner,  mad* 
such  an  impression  on  the  enemy,  that  after  an  unsuccessful' 
attack  on  one  of  his  advanced  posts,  he  never  made  any  other 
attack  on  our  lines  during  the  winter.  His  humanity,  and 
constant  regard  to  the  security  of  the  property  and  persons  oi 
the  inhabitants  from  injury  and  insult,  were  not  less  conspicu 
ous  than  his  military  skill.  No  man  was  insulted  or  disturbed. 
The  health  of  the  troops  was  perfect.  Not  a  desertion  during 
the  whole  period  of  his  command,  nor  a  man  made  prisoner, 
although  the  colonel  was  constantly  making  prisoners.  A 
country,  which  for  three  years  before  had  been  a  scene  of  rob 
bery,  cruelty,  and  murder,  became  at  once  the  abode  of  seen 
rity  and  peace.  Though  his  powers  were  despotic,  they  were 
exercised  only  for  the  peace,  the  security,  and  the  protection 
of  the  surrounding  country  and  its  inhabitants." 

Colonel  Burr  had  not  yet  done  with  war.  In  June,  when 
a  large  force  of  British  troops  seemed  to  threaten  West  Point 
Colonel  Burr  was  at  Newburg,  a  guest  of  General  McDou. 
gal,  who  was  in  great  alarm  because  of  his  repeated  failures  to 
^et  word  to  General  Washington  of  the  movements  of  the  en 
jiny.  The  English  general  had  stationed  troops  and  Tories  in 


THE     WESTCHESTER    LINES.  123 

Jie  passes  of  the  mountains,  who  captured  or  killed  the  ines- 
sengers.  In  these  circumstances,  General  McDougal,  who 
well  knew  Burr's  ability,  requested  him,  as  a  personal  favor, 
to  undertake  the  mission.  Colonel  Burr,  sick  as  he  was,  and 
dangerous  as  was  the  errand,  consented,  and  succeeded.  He 
carried  no  written  dispatch,  but  gave  General  Washington  a 
verbal  account  of  the  critical  position  of  affairs,  which  induced 
him  to  march  forthwith  toward  the  Highlands. 

In  making  the  journey  across  Orange  county,  he  had  a 
ludicrous  contest  with  a  mule,  which  he  was  fond  of  describ 
ing  for  the  amusement  of  children  ever  after.  The  country 
had  been  swept  of  its  horses,  and  arriving  at  the  Townsend 
iron  works  with  his  horse  completely  worn  out,  he  could  pro 
cure  no  substitute  but  a  half-broken  mule  called  "  Independ 
ence,"  notorious  for  its  obstinate  and  vicious  disposition.  There 
was  no  choice  but  to  attempt  this  animal ;  and,  accordingly, 
Burr,  in  the  presence  of  a  number  of  the  country  people, 
mounted,  and  urged  him  onward.  The  mule  was  true  to  his 
name,  and  would  not  move.  The  rider  whipped  and  spurred, 
the  by-standers  pulled  and  shouted,  the  mule  kicked  and 
reared.  After  a  minute  or  two  of  these  proceedings,  the  in- 
'iriated  beast  bolted  from  the  crowd,  and  ran  up  a  steep 
bank,  and  reached  the  top  before  his  rider  could  stop  him. 
On  arriving  there,  Burr  managed  to  turn  him  round,  and  was 
trying  every  argument  to  induce  him  to  descend,  when  the 
mule  appeared  suddenly  to  conceive  an  idea.  About  half  way 
down  the  hill  there  was  a  platform,  with  a  large  opening  in  it, 
through  which  charcoal  was  accustomed  to  be  "  shot,"  a  pro 
digious  heap  of  which  had  accumulated  below  on  the  side  of 
the  hill.  The  mule,  with  malice  in  his  mind,  made  for  this 
iperture,  and  leaped  through  it  upon  the  coal.  But  the  rider 
yas  not  to  be  thrown  so  easily  ;  and  down  the  mountain  of 
charcoal,  the  mule  and  the  man  slowly  slid  together,  amid 
clouds  of  dust,  and  the  laughter  of  the  crowd.  When  they 
reached  the  bottom,  the  animal  showed  signs  of  being  more 
tractable,  and,  after  Leing  led  <»  mile  or  two,  went  perfectly 
well ;  arid  was  ever  after  a  tolerably  behaved  mule. 

This  jc  irney  cost  him  dear.     He  went  immediately  after  to 


124  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BURR. 

Connecticut,  where,  at  New  Haven,  he  was  compelled  do  take 
to  his  bed,  and  spend  some  days  in  complete  quiet.  While 
still  extremely  debilitated,  he  heard  of  the  landing  of  two 
thousand  of  the  enemy's  troops,  one  thousand  at  East  Haven, 
and  the  others  at  West  Haven.  Governor  Tryon,  Burr's  old 
acquaintance,  commanded  the  force  which  landed  at  East 
Haven,  where  he  distinguished  himself,  in  his  usual  style,  by 
setting  the  town  on  fire  and  allowing  his  men  to  commit  dis 
graceful  excesses.  The  people  of  New  Haven  were  in  dread 
ful  alarm.  The  women  and  children  were  hurried  from  the 
town.  The  roads  leading  to  the  country  were  crowded  with 
fugitives  and  vehicles,  hastily  loaded  with  household  goods. 
Hearing  that  the  enemy  were  actually  approaching,  Colonel 
Burr  rose  from  his  bed,  dressed  himself,  and  proceeded  to  a 
part  of  the  town  where  he  was  informed  the  militia  of  the 
place  had  assembled.  Finding  them  panic-stricken  and  about 
to  fly,  he  addressed  them,  and  offered  to  lead  them  against 
the  enemy ;  but  terror  possessed  their  souls,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  the  whole  body  melted  away  and  vanished  from  the 
scene.  He  was  then  told  that  the  students  of  Yale  College 
had  organized  themselves  into  military  companies,  and  were 
now  drawn  up  on  the  College  green.  He  galloped  to  the  spot, 
and  reining  up  his  horse  in  front  of  the  youthful  corps,  he  told 
them  who  he  was,  urged  them  to  set  an  example,  to  march 
out  against  the  ruthless  foe,  and  defend  the  rights  of  which 
they  would  soon  become  the  inheritors,  or  the  loss  of  which  it 
would  soon  be  theirs  to  deplore.  The  exploits  of  Aaron  Burr 
were  familiar  at  least  to  every  young  man  in  New  England ; 
and  when,  at  the  conclusion  of  his  speech,  Colonel  Burr  asked 
them  to  receive  him  as  their  leader,  and,  under  his  command, 
attack  the  enemy,  there  was  no  hesitation  or  faltering  among 
them.  They  marched  into  the  town,  where  they  were  joined 
jy  a  small  body  of  militia,  and  then  advanced  boldly  toward 
the  enemy.  On  coming  near  them,  some  shots  were  ex 
changed,  and  Governor  Tryon,  not  knowing  how  great  a  force 
might  be  opposed  to  him,  halted,  and  then  fell  back  a  little  to 
wait  for  his  artillery.  Colonel  Burr  thus  kept  him  from  ad- 
/ancing  frr  three  or  four  priceless  hours,  during  which  all  thf 


THE     WESTCHESTER    LINES.  121 

jvomen  and  children,  the  sick,  and  immense  quantities  of  valu 
able  property  were  removed  to  places  of  safety.  When,  at 
length,  Tryon,  with  all  his  force,  began  again  to  move  toward 
the  town,  Burr  led  off  his  regiment  of  boys  in  excellent  order. 
The  old  soldier  delighted  to  tell  this  little  story.  He  was  a 
lover  of  young  life,  and  proud  of  the  confidence  which  the 
young  ever  reposed  in  him.  Nothing  in  his  military  career 
gave  him  such  pleasure  to  look  back  upon  as  this  compara 
tively  trivial  incident. 

The  excitement  of  this  adventure  sustained  him  while  it 
lasted,  but  he  dismounted  from  his  horse  only  to  go  again  to 
his  bed.  During  the  succeeding  autumn  and  winter  he  did 
little  but  take  care  of  his  shattered  constitution,  and  form 
plans  for  the  prosecution  of  his  legal  studies. 

In  the  summer  of  1780  he  was  in  New  Jersey  once  more, 
and  making  such  frequent  visits  to  the  house  of  Mrs.  Prevost, 
as  to  excite  a  general  belief  among  his  friends  that  he  was 
paying  his  court  to  the  sister  of  that  lady,  Miss  De  Visme 
Colonel  Troup,  as  we  read  in  one  of  his  letters,  tells  Burr  hi 
June  of  this  year,  that  the  Miss  Livingstons  had  inquired 
about  him  in  a  very  friendly  manner,  and  since  he  had  been 
with  them,  he  had  had  an  opportunity  of  removing  the  sus 
picion  they  had  of  his  courting  Miss  Visme.  "  They  believe 
nothing  of  it  now,"  adds  Colonel  Troup,  "  and  attribute  your 
visits  to  Paramus  to  motives  of  friendship  for  Mrs.  Prevost 
and  the  family.  Wherever  I  am,  and  can  with  propriety,  you 
may  be  sure  I  shall  represent  this  matter  in  its  true  light." 
From  this  it  would  appear  that  Colonel  Burr  had  not  yet  con 
fided  his  real  object  to  his  friends,  of  whom  Colonel  Troup 
was  then  one  of  the  most  intimate;  and  remained  such, 
through  all  vicissitudes,  for  nearly  seventy  years. 

In  September,  it  was  Colonel  Burr's  fortune  to  witness  at 
the  house  of  Mrs.  Prevost  a  memorable  scene. 

The  news  of  Arnold's  treason  was  flying  in  awful  whispers 
over  the  country.  Sooi  after  the  first  shock  of  the  discovery, 
same  touching  descriptions  of  Mrs.  Arnold's  grief  at  her  hus 
band's  crime,  of  which,  it  was  universally  believed,  she  had 
been  ignorant  up  to  the  moment  of  his  flight  from  West 


*26  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

Point.  The  historic  reader  is  familiar  with  Hamilton's  high- 
flown  narrative  of  the  scene  which  transpired  under  his  owr 
eyes. 

"  Arnold,  a  moment  before  setting  out,"  wrote  Hamilton  to 
Colonel  Laurens,  "  went  into  Mrs.  Arnold's  apartment,  and 
informed  her  that  some  transactions  had  just  come  to  light 
which  must  for  ever  banish  him  from  his  country.  She  fell 
into  a  swoon  at  this  declaration ;  and  he  left  her  in  it  to  con 
sult  his  own  safety,  till  the  servants,  alarmed  at  her  cries, 
came  to  her  relief.  She  remained  frantic  all  day ;  accusing 
every  one  who  approached  her  with  an  intention  to  murder 
her  child  (an  infant  in  her  arms)  ;  and  exhibiting  every  other 
mark  of  the  most  genuine  and  agonizing  distress.  Exhausted 
by  the  fatigue  and  tumult  of  her  spirits,  her  frenzy  subsided 
toward  evening,  and  she  sank  into  all  the  sadness  of  affliction. 
It  was  impossible  not  to  have  been  touched  with  her  situation. 
Every  thing  affecting  in  female  tears,  or  in  the  misfortunes  of 
beauty  ;  every  thing  pathetic  in  the  wounded  tenderness  of  a 
wife,  or  in  the  apprehensive  fondness  of  a  mother ;  and,  till  I 
have  reason  to  change  the  opinion,  every  thing  amiable  in  the 
sufferings  of  innocence ;  conspired  to  make  her  an  object  of 
sympathy  to  all  who  were  present.  She  experienced  the  most 
delicate  attention,  and  every  friendly  office,  till  her  departure 
for  Philadelphia." 

This  was  the  romantic  falsehood  of  the  affair.  It  was  fitted 
to  deceive  the  good-hearted  Hamilton,  who  was  then  himself 
a  lover,  and  therefore  full  of  tenderness  for  all  women ;  and 
the  story  was  one  which  a  young  gentleman  of  a  rhetorical 
turn,  and  who  indeed  owed  his  advancement  to  "  the  flowers 
of  his  pen,"  would  delight  to  tell.  It  fell  to  Burr's  lot  to  be 
come  acquainted  with  the  repulsive  truth.  He  was  sitting  one 
evening  with  Mrs.  Prevost,  when  the  approach  of  a  party  of 
norse  was  heard,  and  soon  after,  a  lady  vailed,  and  attired  in 
a  riding-habit,  burst  into  the  room,  and  hurrying  toward  Mrs, 
Prevost,  was  on  the  point  of  addressing  her.  Seeing  a  gen 
tleman  present  whom,  in  the  dim  light  of  the  apartment,  she 
did  not  recognize,  she  paused,  and  asked  in  an  anxious  tone, 

"  Am  I  safe  ?     Is  this  gentleman  a  friend  ?" 


THE     WESTCHESTEE     LINES.  127 

"  Oh,  yes,"  was  Mrs.  Prevost's  reply,  "  he  is  my  most  partic 
ular  friend,  Colonel  Burr." 

"  Thank  God  !"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Arnold,  for  she  it  was ; 
'I've  been  playing  the  hypocrite,  and  I'm  tired  of  it."  . 

She  then  gave  an  account  of  the  way  she  had  deceived 
General  Washington,  Colonel  Hamilton,  and  the  other  Amer- 
can  officers,  who,  she  said,  believed  her  innocent  of  the  trea 
son,  and  had  given  her  an  escort  of  horse  from  West  Point. 
She  made  no  scruple  of  confessing  the  part  she  had  borne  in 
the  negotiations  with  the  British  general,  and  declared  it  was 
she  who  had  induced  her  husband  to  do  what  he  had  done. 
She  passed  the  night  at  Paramus,  taking  care  to  resume  her 
acting  of  the  outraged  and  frantic  woman,  whenever  strangers 
were  present.  Colonel  Burr's  relations  with  the  Shippen 
family,  of  which  Mrs.  Arnold  was  a  member,  had  been  of  the 
most  intimate  character  from  childhood.  They  had  been  his 
father's  friends  ;  and  the  orphan  boy  had  been  taken  from  his 
mother's  grave  to  their  home  in  Philadelphia.  He  stood 
toward  this  fascinating,  false-hearted  woman  almost  in  the 
light  of  a  younger  brother,  and  he  kept  her  secret  until  she 
was  past  being  harmed  by  the  telling  of  it. 

With  this  scene  the  history  of  Colonel  Burr's  military 
career  may  fitly  close.  He  had  borne  well  his  part  in  the 
revolutionary  struggle.  That  combination  of  qualities  and  de 
fects  which  fits  a  man  to  be  a  successful  military  commander, 
he  possessed  in  a  more  remarkable  degree,  perhaps,  than  any 
other  American  who  has  won  distinction  in  war.  If  he  had 
been  as  much  in  the  eye  of  Napoleon  as  he  was  in  Washing 
ton's,  the  emperor  would  have  made  a  marshal  of  him,  and  he 
would  have  shared  with  Napoleon  his  splendid  immortality. 
But  for  that,  as  for  so  much  else,  Aaron  Burr  had  the  misfor 
tune  to  be  born  on  the  wrong  continent. 

During  the  four  years  of  his  connection  with  the  army  hii 
fortune  was  greatly  impaired.  Every  officer  who  had  any 
thing  to  lose,  suffered  in  his  circunmances  in  the  Revolution, 
and  Burr  more  than  most.  He  had  the  popular  and  fatal 
vice  of  improvidence.  At  the  age  when  Washington  was 
earning  three  guineas  a  lay  in  the  woods,  glad  of  the  oppor 


128  LIFE     OP     AARON     BTTRK. 

tunity  to  do  so,  and  rather  proud  of  the  fact  than  otherwise 
Burr  was  spending,  with  inconsiderate  generosity,  the  capita, 
of  his  patrimony.  With  amazing  talents  for  gaining  money 
he  had  an  equally  wonderful  facility  for  getting  rid  of  it.  It 
slipped  through  his  fingers  ;  it  ran  out  of  his  pocket ;  it  would 
not  stay  with  him.  To  see  a  fellow-soldier  in  distress,  and  to 
empty  his  purse  for  his  relief,  were  simultaneous  actions  with 
him, 

Nor  did  he  spare  expense  in  forwarding  any  scheme  of  his 
own,  whether  of  pleasure  or  advantage.  From  his  corre 
spondence  at  this  time,  it  is  plain  that  he  was  a  frequent 
lender  of  money  to  embarrassed  friends.  Colonel  Troup  tells 
him  on  one  occasion  that  he  had  received  from  Mr.  Edwards 
a  thousand  pounds  of  Burr's  money,  a  part  of  which,  says 
Troup,  I  shall  take  the  liberty  of  borrowing,  and  send  the 
rest  to  the  owner.  Ogden,  as  we  have  seen,  sells  Burr's  horse, 
and  writes  to  him  that  he  can  not  send  him  the  proceeds,  for 
the  excellent  reason  that  he  has  spent  them.  These  are  fair 
examples  of  Burr's  looseness  in  affairs  pecuniary.  It  is  a 
pleasant  way  enough  while  the  money  lasts ;  but  it  never  does 
last.  No  fortune  can  stand  the  drain  of  an  uncalculating  im* 
providence.  And  a  worse  feature  of  the  case  is,  that  a  man 
who  is  careless  of  meum  is  in  frightful  danger  of  losing  some 
portion  of  his  regard  for  tuum,  also.  "  The  worth  and  dignity 
of  gold,"  was  one  of  the  regenerating  phrases  with  which 
Goethe  set  right  his  age.  The  strong,  slow  characters  that 
support  the  social  fabric,  know  its  truth  by  an  instinct  which 
they  too  often  want  who  adorn,  and  cheer,  who  move  and  ad 
vance  the  race. 

Generous  we  may  truly  call  Colonel  Burr.  But  there  is  a 
nobler  generosity  than  that  exercised  by  him  ;  it  is  allied  with 
frugality,  and  becomes  possible  through  frugality.  Burr  was, 
at  all  periods  of  his  life,  extremely  liable  to  be  imposed  upon. 
His  feelings  were  easily  moved ;  his  acuteness  utterly  failed 
him  the  moment  his  tenderness  was  awakened ;  and  h'e  gave 
freely  of  what  he  never  really  felt  the  value  to  relieve  di» 
presses  which  he  could  not  witness  without  pain. 

Another  tendency  of  his  nature  was  strengthened  by  thy 


THfc     N  ESTCHESTEB    LINES.  129 

war.  It  is  the  soldier's  art  to  instantly  adapt  means  to  ends ; 
it  is  his  duty,  by  all  means,  to  gain  his  ends.  His  object,  the 
destruction  of  the  enemy,  is  simple,  obvious,  unmistakable ; 
and,  in  compassing  it,  he  not  merely  way,  but  must,  be  deaf 
to  the  cry  of  anguish.  He  is  not  merely  released  from  the 
moral  restraints  of  peace,  but  he  is  obliged  to  trample  them 
under  foot.  He  destroys  without  compunction ;  he  kills  with 
out  compassion.  His  mind  is  fixed  upon  his  object ;  he  burns 
merely  to  succeed.  Victory  alone,  victory  always,  is  accepted 
as  proof  of  his  ability.  But  in  peace  it  is  not  always  glorious 
to  succeed  ;  for  then  we  estimate  success  chiefly  by  the  means 
used  to  attain  it. 

Aaron  Burr,  like  his  father  before  him,  was  a  man  who  had 
by  nature  a  marvelous  faculty  of  bringing  things  to  pass.  He 
saw  his  object  with  eagle  clearness  and  he  had  a  wonderful 
intuitive  sense  of  the  means,  and  all  the  means,  and,  particu 
larly,  the  readiest  means,  by  which  that  object  could  be 
reached.  This  faculty  will  be  abundantly  exemplified  by-and- 
by.  It  is  alluded  to  here,  merely  for  the  purpose  of  suggest 
ing  that  four  years  of  a  soldier's  life  may  have  had  the  two 
fold  effect,  first,  of  intensifying  his  perception  of  objects  to  be 
gained,  and,  secondly,  of  diminishing  his  scrupulousness  with 
regard  to  the  use  of  means. 

6* 


CHAPTER    IX. 


ADMISSIOK    TO    THE    BAR,    AND    MARRTAOK 

FBB  AMERICAN  BAR  BEFORE  THE  REVOLUTION  —  BURR  RESUMES  HIS  LEGAL  STUDIES  —  Hn 
CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  MRS.  PREVOST  —  ADMISSION  TO  THE  BAR  —  CHARACTER  OF  MBA. 
PRIVOST—  THEIR  MARRIAGE—  REMOVAL  TO  NEW  YORK. 


to  war,  the  law  had  been,  from  an  early  period  in 
the  history  of  the  colonies,  the  favorite  profession  with  their 
young  men  of  spirit.  John  Adams,  in  1756,  when  he  had 
just  begun  his  legal  studies,  writes  to  a  friend  in  justification 
of  the  choice  he  had  made  of  a  profession.  One  of  his  reasons 
was,  that  "  the  students  in  the  law  are  very  numerous,  and 
some  of  them  youths  of  which  no  country,  no  age,  would 
need  to  be  ashamed.  And  if,"  he  adds,  "  I  can  gain  the  honor 
of  treading  in  the  rear,  and  silently  admiring  the  noble  air 
and  gallant  achievements  of  the  foremost  rank,  I  shall  think 
myself  worthy  of  a  louder  triumph  than  if  I  had  headed  the 
whole  army  of  orthodox  ministers."  After  the  termination  of 
the  old  French  war,  the  law  began  to  be  a  lucrative  profes 
sion  also.  Joseph  Reed,  of  Philadelphia,  writing  in  1767, 
when  he  had  been  but  two  years  at  the  bar,  mentioned 
that  his  professional  income  was  a  thousand  pounds  a  year. 
He  was,  no  doubt,  unusually  fortunate.  But,  at  that  time, 
there  were  not  many  occupations  carried  on  in  the  colonies,  in 
the  exercise  of  which,  a  young  man  of  two  years'  standing, 
«ould  have  earned  so  much. 

The  legal  system,  was,  of  course,  in  all  respects,  that  of  the 
mother  country.  The  wig  and  gown  were  worn  by  lawyers 
and  judges  ;  and  much  is  implied  in  that  trivial  circumstance 
S"oung  men  of  fortune  thought  their  studies  incomplete  until 
they  had  resided  two  years  at  one  of  the  Inns  of  Court 
in  London.  In  the  Temple  Church  may  still  be  seen,  or 


ADMISSION    TO    THE    BAR,     AND    MARRIAGE.      13i 

might,  a  few  years  ago,  some  tablets  erected  to  the  memory 
of  American  students  who  died  while  pursuing  their  studies 
in  London  before  the  Revolution.  If  Aaron  Burr  had  come 
upon  the  stage  of  action  a  few  years  earlier,  it  is  likely  enough 
hat,  with  his  pecuniary  means,  he  would  have  sought,  by  such 
a  residence  abroad,  to  have  hastened  his  ascent  to  the  highest 
walks  of  the  profession  at  home.  For  it  was  a  great  thing, 
and  an  honorable,  in  those  days,  even  to  have  seen  the  coun 
try  which  the  colonists  were  proud  to  call  their  own. 

For  eighteen  months  after  leaving  the  army,  Colonel  Burr 
was  an  invalid,  and  he  did  little  but  visit  his  friends,  read 
French,  write  letters,  and  wait  upon  Mrs.  Prevost.  In  the 
autumn  of  1780,  his  health  having  greatly  improved,  he  be 
gan  to  study  law  in  earnest,  under  Judge  Patterson,  of  New 
Jersey.  Judge  Patterson  was  a  thorough  lawyer,  and  desired 
to  make  his  pupils  such,  by  grounding  them  well  in  the  prin 
ciples  of  the  law,  and  not  till  afterward  instructing  them  in 
the  practice.  Burr  desired  to  reverse  this  order,  and  acquire 
the  practice  first.  There  were  reasons  why  he  wished  to 
hurry  into  the  practice  of  his  profession  :  he  was  in  love ;  his 
purse  needed  replenishing,  or  would  soon  need  it ;  and  it  was 
certain,  that  if  the  independence  of  the  colonies  were  secured, 
of  which  there  seemed  little  doubt,  Whig  lawyers  would  mo 
nopolize  the  business  of  the  profession,  and  the  offices  to  which 
the  profession  leads.  With  the  intention  of  attempting  a  short 
cut  to  the  bar,  he  left  the  office  of  the  methodical  Patterson 
in  the  spring  of  1781,  and  went  to  reside  at  Haverstraw,  in 
N"ew  York,  with  Thomas  Smith,  a  city  practitioner  of  note, 
out  now  suspended  frorff'IsnsiTTess  by  the  war.  Mr.  Smith  had 
a  good  library,  and  plenty  of  leisure.  With  him  Burr  made  a 
peculiar  and  characteristic  arrangement.  For  a  certain  sum, 
Jie  lawyer  agreed  to  devote  a  specified  time  to  his  pupil  every 
day,  and  to  answer  any  questions  he  might  propose.  Burr 
now  read  law,  literally,  day  and  night,  sometimes  spending 
twenty  hours  at  his  books  out  of  the  twenty-four;  taking 
•aotes  as  he  read ,  reserving  doubtful  points  to  be  elucidated 
by  his  instructor,  and  endeavoring,  in  all  ways,  to  acquire  the 
fomiliar  use  of  the  weapons  with  which  lawyers  war  with  one 


182  LIFE     OF     AA.RO.W     BURR. 

another  and  with  justice.  Tp  become  expert,  not  profound, 
was  the  object  of  his  immediate  exertions.  Of  such  students 
it  may  be  observed,  that  having  become  proficient  in  the  prac 
tice,  they  are  never  drawn  to  meditate  deeply  upon  the 
theory  of  their  profession. 

His  letters,  during  the  year,  show  that  his  favorite  authors 
hen  were  Chesterfield,  Voltaire,  and  Rousseau.  There  waa 
much  studying  of  French  in  Burr's  circle.  The  family  of  Mrs 
Prevost  was  of  Swiss  origin,  and  French  had  been  their  na 
tive  language.  The  "  Hermitage,"  the  family  seat  of  the  De 
Visme's,  where  Mrs.  Prevost  now  resided,  had  a  considerable 
library  of  French  books,  which  nourished  Burr's  French  tastes, 
and  introduced  to  his  notice  several  authors  of  whom  he  had 
been  ignorant.  In  his  letters  to  Mrs.  Prevost,  his  favorite 
authors  were  frequently  the  theme  of  remark  ;  to  which  she, 
as  often,  gracefully  replies.  She  says  on  one  occasion,  that 
his  favorable  opinion  of  Voltaire  pleased  her,  because  it  showed 
that  he  had  a  mind  of  his  own.  "  The  English,"  said  she, 
"from  national  jealousy  and  envy  to  the  French,  detract 
him ;  but,  without  being  his  disciple,  we  may  do  justice  to  his 
merit,  and  admire  him  as  a  judicious  and  ingenious  author." 
In  another  letter,  she  extols  religion,  and  declares  that  "  worlds 
should  not  purchase  the  little  she  possessed."  To  something 
Burr  had  said  about  Chesterfield,  she  replied,  that  the  indulg 
ence  which  he  applauded  in  that  author  was  the  only  part  of 
his  writings  she  thought  reprehensible,  but  that  only  when  all 
the  world  turn  envoys,  will  Chesterfield  be  their  proper  guide. 
In  one  letter,  she  tells  him,  that  their  being  the  subject  of 
much  inquiry,  conjecture,  and  calumny  was  no  more  than  they 
Dtight  to  expect :  "  My  attention  to  you,"  she  adds,  "  was 
even  pointed  enough  to  attract  the  observation  of  all  who 
visited  the  house ;  but  your  esteem  more  than  compensated 
for  the  worst  they  could  say." 

Burr's  reply  to  this  letter  is  characteristic.  He  tells  hex 
that  the  calumniator  shall  one  day  repent  his  insolence  and  in 
the  mean  time,  they  must  be  more  cautious  in  preserving  ap 
pearances.  4<  Suaviter  in  modo^fortiter  in  re,  is  a  maxim,"  ht 
*ays,  "  which  would  bear  sheets  of  comment  and  days  q/  r* 


ADMISSION    t'O    THE    BAK,     AND    MABRIAQE.      133 

flection."  They  must  not  mind  these  trifles.  "  That  mind,"  he 
adds,  "is  truly  great  which  can  bear  with  equanimity  the 
trifling  and  unavoidable  vexations  of  life,  and  be  affected  only 
by  those  events  which  determine  our  substantial  bliss.  Every 
period,  and  every  situation  has  a  portion  of  those  trifling 
crosses ;  and  those  who  expect  to  avoid  them  all,  or  conquer 
them  all,  must  be  wretched  without  respite."  This  train  of 
remark  was  habitual  with  Colonel  Burr  all  his  days.  To  pre 
sent  a  panoply  of  steel  to  the  minor  shafts  of  misfortune,  to  be 
quick  to  discern  the  event  of  real  importance,  to  be  neither 
elated  nor  depressed  by  whatever  might  occur,  to  bound 
lightly  up  after  the  farthest  fall,  to  acquire  every  kind  of  de 
gree  of  self-control,  were  what  he  chiefly  enjoined  upon  his 
children,  his  pupils,  and  his  protegees.  Self-control,  Burr 
would  say,  was  the  means  of  self-indulgence,  and  the  con 
dition  of  controlling  others. 

After  reading  law  for  six  months  at  Haverstraw,  he  thought 
himself  competent  to  practice  ;  an  opinion  to  which  an  event 
of  the  time  probably  contributed.  In  November  of  this  year, 
the  legislature  of  New  York  passed  an  act  disqualifying  all 
the  Tory  lawyers  from  practicing  in  the  courts  of  that  State. 
Burr  no  sooner  heard  of  this  than  he  resolved  to  make  an 
effort  to  realize  part  of  its  benefits  himself,  and,  a  few  days 
after,  he  was  in  Albany  for  the  purpose  of  applying  for  ad 
mission  to  the  bar.  But  difficulties  arose.  The  rule  of  the 
\ourt  was,  that  candidates  must  have  spent  three  years  in  the 
study  of  the  law  before  admission,  and  Colonel  Burr  could 
scarcely  pretend  to  more  than  one  year's  study.  Nor  could 
he  find  a  lawyer  in  the  State  willing  to  make  a  motion  for  th 
court  to  set  aside  the  rule.  In  these  circumstances,  the  can 
didate  undertook  the  management  of  the  case  himself.  Hav 
ing  first  conciliated  the  good  will  of  the  judge  in  private,  and 
made  him  acquainted  with  the  grounds  of  his  application,  he  ap 
peared  in  court  at  the  proper  time,  made  the  requisite  motion, 
and  gave  the  reasons  why  he  thought  it  should  be  granted. 
He  said  that  he  had  begun  his  studies  before  the  Revolution, 
and  should  long  since  have  been  entitled  to  admission  to  the 
•ar,  but  for  the  service  he  had  rendered  as  a  soldier.  "  N" 


184  LIFE     OF     AABON     BUBB. 

rule,"  he  observed,  "could  be  intended  to  injure  one  whose  only 
misfortune  is  having  sacrificed  his  time,  his  constitution,  and 
his  fortune  to  his  country."  The  court  decided  that  the  rule 
with  regard  to  the  period  of  study  might,  for  the  reasons 
given,  be  dispensed  with,  provided  the  candidate  could  show 
that  he  possessed  the  requisite  knowledge.  The  examining 
counsel,  as  may  be  imagined,  gave  him  no  indulgence.  They 
wished  his  failure.  But  after  an  examination,  prolonged,  criti 
cal,  and  severe,  which  he  passed  triumphantly,  he  was  licensed 
as  an  attorney.  This  event  occurred  on  the  19th  of  January, 
1782.  On  the  17th  of  April  following,  he  was  admitted  as 

^counselor.     He  was  then  twenty-six  years  of  age. 

He  took  an  office  in  Albany,  began  the  practice  of  the  law, 
and  seems  almost  immediately  to  have  been  immersed  in  busi 
ness.  He  had  acquired  celebrity  in  the  State  as  a  soldier,  and 
no  man  of  his  years  had  a  wider  circle  of  acquaintance  among 
the  class  who  indulge  in  profitable  suits  at  law.  The  old  Tory 

.  lawyers,  who  had  enjoyed  all  the  best  business,  before  the 
Revolution,  were  now  thrown  out  of  the  ranks  of  the  profes 
sion  by  an  act  of  the  legislature,  and  Whig  lawyers  of  any 
standing  or  promise  were,  at  the  moment,  extremely  few. 
Burr's  engaging  manner,  distinguished  origin,  indefatigable 
devotion  to  business,  and  honorable  fame,  would,  in  any  circum 
stances,  have  rendered  his  advancement  in  the  profession  cer 
tain  and  rapid.  But  in  the  actual  state  of  things,  they  obtained 
for  him  in  a  very  few  months  as  profitable  a  business  as  was 
enjoyed  by  any  lawyer  in  the  State.  Before  he  had  been  in 
practice  three  months,  he  felt  so  sure  of  his  position  and  so 
satisfied  with  his  prospects,  that  there  seemed  no  longer  any 
necessity  for  delaying  his  marriage. 

That  Colonel  Burr,  the  most  rising  young  man  in  the  State 
of  New  York,  handsome,  fascinating,  well-born,  and  famous, 
whose  addresses  few  maidens  in  the  country  would  have  been 
inclined  to  repulse,  should  have  chosen  to  marry  a  widow  ten 
years  older  than  himself,  with  two  rollicking  boys  (one  of 
them  eleven  years  old),  with  precarious  health,  and  no  great 
estate,  was  a  circumstance  which  seems  to  have  been  incom 
prehensible  to  his  friends  at  the  time,  as  it  has  since  proved  « 


ADMISSION    TO     THE     BAB,     ANu     MABRIAGHr.       135 

puzzle  to  the  writers  of  biographical  gossip.  Upon  the  theory 
that  Burr  was  the  artful  devil  he  has  been  said  to  be,  all 
whose  ends  and  aims  were  his  own  advancement,  no  man  can 
explain  such  a  marriage.  Before  the  Revolution  he  had  re- 
(used,  point-blank,  to  address  a  young  lady  of  fortune,  whom 
his  uncle,  Thaddeus  Buir,  incessantly  urged  upon  his  atten 
tion.  During  the  Revolution  he  was  on  terms  of  intimacy 
with  all  the  great  families  of  the  State — the  Clintons,  the  Liv 
ingstons,  the  Schuylers,  the  Van  Rensselaers,  and  the  rest ; 
alliance  with  either  of  whom  gave  a  young  man  of  only  aver 
age  abilities,  immense  advantages  in  a  State  which  was,  to  a 
singular  extent,  under  the  dominion  of  great  families.  But  no 
considerations  of  this  kind  could  break  the  spell  which  drew 
him,  with  mysterious  power,  to  the  cottage  at  remote  and 
rural  Paramus. 

The  lady  was  not  beautiful.  Besides  being  past  her  prime, 
she  was  slightly  disfigured  by  a  scar  on  her  forehead.  It  was 
the  graceful  and  winning  manners  of  Mrs.  Prevost  that  first 
captivated  the  mind  of  Colonel  Burr.  She  was,  indeed,  in  all 
respects,  an  estimable  lady,  affectionate,  accomplished,  well- 
versed  in  literature,  and  as  much  given  to  the  practice  as 
averse  to  the  profession  of  piety.  But  it  was  in  her  character 
of  LADY  and  woman  of  the  world  that  she  proved  so  irresist- 
ably  pleasing  to  him  on  their  first  acquaintance.  He  used,  in 
after  years,  to  say,  that  in  style  and  manners,  she  was  without 
a  peer  among  all  the  women  he  had  known,  and  that  if  his 
own  manners  were  in  any  respects  superior  to  those  of  men  in 
general,  it  was  owing  to  the  insensible  influence  of  hers.  The 
reader  may,  perhaps,  have  observed  that  young  men  of  spirit 
and  intelligence,  who  have  been  brought  up  in  the  severe,  un 
gracious  way  of  the  stricter  Puritans,  are  sometimes  too  keenly 
susceptible  of  the  charm  of  manner,  and  are  apt  to  attach  to  it 
an  excessive  importance. 

But  a  more  lasting  charm  of  this  lady  was  her  cultivated 
mind.  Burr  was  a  lover  of  books,  a  lover  of  pictures,  a  lover 
of  every  thing  which  distinguishes  man  from  the  Puritan  ;  and 
it  was  rare,  indeed,  in  those  days,  to  find  a  lady  in  America 
who  had  the  kind  of  culture  which  sympathizes  with  such 


138  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BUEB. 

tastes.  In  Europe,  women  were  only  beginning  to  emerge 
from  the  gross  ignorance  which  was  thought  to  be  their  proper 
condition ;  and  in  America,  if  they  were  not  ignorant,  few 
had  the  knowledge  interesting  to  a  man  like  Burr.  Among 
his  own  female  relatives  there  was  penetrating  and  brilliant  in- 
ellect  enough ;  but  how  perverted,  how  repressed !  Some  of 
the  most  renowned  ladies  of  the  time,  with  a  thousand  virtues, 
scarcely  ever  looked  into  a  book.  Mrs.  Putnam  was  mighty 
at  the  spinning-wheel ;  Mrs.  Washington  (as  we  lately  learn 
from  Mrs.  Kirkland's  pleasant  pages)  was  a  devotee  of  the 
knitting-needle ;  and  the  wife  of  another  famous  general  was 
not  a  little  proud  of  her  patchwork  quilts.  Burr  had  met  few 
ladies,  in  his  earlier  life,  who,  like  Mrs.  Prevost,  were  familiar 
with  the  most  recent  expressions  of  European  intellect,  who 
could  talk  intelligently  with  him  about  Voltaire,  Rousseau, 
and  Chesterfield,  and  could  appreciate  those  authors  with 
out  becoming  their  disciples.  It  was  not  mere  compliment, 
when  Burr  told  Mrs.  Prevost  that  it  was  from  knowing  her 
that  he  had  first  learned  to  believe  in  the  understanding  of 
woman. 

The  two  sons  of  Mrs.  Prevost,  so  far  from  being  regarded 
by  Colonel  Burr  as  an  obstacle  to  his  marriage,  were  really 
an  inducement  to  it.  He  inherited  his  father's  passion  for 
training  the  young.  He  was  not  merely  fond  of  children,  but 
took  the  liveliest  possible  interest  in  their  education.  There 
^vas  no  period  in  all  his  long  life  when  he  had  not  a  protege 
under  training.  His  system  of  education  was,  indeed,  with 
all  its  merits,  and  with  all  the  pains  he  bestowed  in  applying 
\\>)  fatally  defective  ;  as  was  his  own  system  of  life.  But  that 
he  took  a  most  real  and  ardent  interest  and  delight  in  the  de 
velopment  of  the  youthful  character,  and  spared  no  pains  in 
promoting  what  he  thought  to  be  the  right  education  of  hia 
proteges,  there  can  be  no  doubt  whatever.  With  a  Saxon 
moral  character,  Aaron  Burr  might  have  been  a  schoolmastei 
of  unheard-of  excellence  —  such  as  the  world  waits  for 
Nothing,  indeed,  was  more  natural  to  him  than  the  tone  oi 
»he  instructor.  Some  months  before  he  was  married  he  con 


ADMISSION    10     THE     BAB,     AND     MARRIAGE.       131 

eludes  one  of  his  letters  to  Mrs.  Prevost  in  language  which 
Illustrates  what  I  mean : 

"  You  wrote  me  too  much  by  Dom.  I  hope  it  was  not  from 
a  fear  that  I  should  be  dissatisfied  with  less.  It  is,  I  confess, 
ather  singular  to  find  fault  with  the  quantity,  when  matter 
nd  manner  are  so  delightful.  You  must,  however,  deal  less 
n  sentiments,  and  more  in  ideas.  Indeed,  in  the  letter  in  an 
swer  to  my  last,  you  will  need  to  be  particularly  attentive  to 
this  injunction.  I  think  constantly  of  the  approaching  change 
in  our  affairs,  and  what  it  demands.  Do  not  let  us,  like  chil 
dren,  be  so  taken  with  the  prospect  as  to  lose  sight  of  the 
means.  Remember  to  write  me  facts  and  ideas,  and  don't 
torment  me  with  compliments,  or  yourself  with  sentiments  to 
which  I  am  already  no  stranger.  Write  but  little,  and  very 
little  at  once." 

In  another  letter  he  recommends  her  to  buy  one  of  the  new 
Franklin  stoves,  and  suggests  the  room  in  which  it  should  be 
placed.  After  enlarging,  in  a  style  not  common  in  love  let 
ters,  upon  the  various  good  qualities  of  the  stoves,  and  tell 
ing  her  that,  as  her  little  boy  would  be  certain  to  burn  him 
self  at  least  once  with  it,  it  might  be  best  to  teach  him  the 
danger  by  slightly  burning  him,  he  concludes  as  follows  : 

"  I  confess  I  have  still  some  transient  distrusts  that  you  set 
too  little  value  on  your  own  life  and  comfort.  Remember,  it 
is  not  yours  alone ;  but  your  letters  shall  convince  me.  I 
waive  the  subject.  I  am  not  certain  I  shall  be  regularly  punc 
tual  in  writing  you  in  this  manner  every  day  when  I  get  at 
business ;  but  I  shall,  if  possible,  devote  one  quarter  of  an 
hour  a  day  to  you.  In  return,  I  demand  one  half  of  an  hour 
every  day  from  you ;  more  I  forbid,  unless  on  special  occasions. 
This  half  hour  is  to  be  mine,  to  be  invariably  at  the  same 
t.me,  and,  for  that  purpose,  fixed  at  an  hour  least  liable  to 
interruption,  and  as  you  shall  find  most  convenient.  Mine 
»,an  not  be  so  regular,  as  I  only  indulge  myself  in  it  when  I 
im  fatigued  with  business.  The  children  will  have  each  their 
iheet,  and,  at  the  given  hour,  write,  if  but  a  single  word. 
Burr,  at  this  half  hour,  is  to  be  a  kind  of  watchword." 

While  Burr  was  preparing  for  his  examination,  his  slav« 


138  LIFE     OP     AARON     BURR. 

Carlos  was  going  very  frequently  between  Paramus  and  Al 
bany,  bearing  letters  and  gifts.  His  letters  were  mostly  it 
the  decisive,  commanding  manner  of  the  extracts  just  given, 
though  sufficiently  tender  and  considerate.  A  notorious  ca 
lumniator  has  recently,  in  a  work  of  great  pretensions,  insin 
uated  that  Colonel  Burr,  during  this  winter  in  Albany,  lived 
on  terms  of  scandalous  intimacy  with  his  landlady.  The  state 
ment  is  false.  Soon  after  his  arrival  in  Albany,  Burr  was 
called  upon  by  Mr.  Van  Rensselaer,  the  head  of  the  distin 
guished  family  of  that  name.  The  two  young  men  soon  be 
came  intimate.  Van  Rensselaer  was  dissatisfied  with  Burr's 
lodgings,  and  in  a  spirit  of  friendliness  and  hospitality  offered 
to  find  him  better.  Burr  soon  wrote  to  Mrs.  Prevost  that 
Van  Rensselaer  had  succeeded  perfectly  to  his  wish.  "  I  am 
with  two  maiden  aunts  of  his,"  he  said,  "  obliging  and  (in 
credible  !)  good-natured,  the  very  paragons  of  neatness.  Not 
an  article  of  furniture,  even  to  a  tea-kettle,  that  would  soil  a 
muslin  handkerchief.  I  have  two  upper  rooms."  In  these 
apartments  it  was  that  he  daily  wrote  such  words  as  the  fol 
lowing  to  a  lady  with  whom  he  was  anticipating  a  speedy 
marriage :  "  Though  I  write  very  little,  it  is  still  half  my 
business ;  for  whenever  I  find  myself  either  at  a  loss  what  to 
do,  or  any  how  discomposed  or  dull,  I  fly  to  these  sheets, 
and  even  if  I  do  not  write,  I  ponder  upon  it,  and  in  this 
way  sacrifice  many  hours  without  reflecting  that  time  passes 
away." 

On  the  2d  of  July,  1782,  by  the  Rev.  David  Bogart,  of  the 
Reformed  Dutch  church,  Aaron  Burr  and  Theodosia  Prevost 
were  married.  They  were  forthwith  established  in  an  ample 
residence  at  Albany,  where  Colonel  Burr  relieved  the  monot 
ony  of  business  by  assisting  in  the  education  of  the  two  boys. 
One  of  the  first  uses  he  made  of  his  new  dignity  of  house 
holder  was  to  give  a  temporary  home  to  a  friend  who  was  in 
love,  and  had  a  project  of  marriage  which  it  was  necessary 
for  some  reason  to  conceal.  That  friend  was  the  well-known 
iifajor  Popham,  who  was  married  at  Colonel  Burr's  house,  and 
who,  fifty-four  years  after,  held  the  pall  which  covered  Burr'* 
rA»~\ains  as  the)  were  borne  to  the  grave. 


4DMISSION     TO    THE     BAB,     AND    MARRIAGE.       130 

Carlos  made  no  more  hurried  journeys  to  Paramus.  The 
charm  of  the  "  Hermitage"  had  departed  from  it.  It  may  in- 
icrest  some  readers  to  learn  that  traditions  of  the  old  house, 
and  of  the  family  who  inherited  it,  still  exist  in  the  vicinity. 
Some  of  the  walls  of  the  house  are  standing,  and  serve  as  part 
of  a  modern  structure.  Some  relics  of  its  elegant  contents,  a 
picture,  among  other  things,  adorn  a  neighboring  tavern. 
Stories  of  the  grand  company  that  used  to  assemble  at  the 
Hermitage  are  Vaguely  told  by  the  older  inhabitants ;  and 
descendants  of  Mrs.  Prevost  reside  a  few  miles  from  the  old 
estate,  in  an  elegant  abode,  which  contains  interesting  memo 
rials  of  the  olden  time. 

At  Albany,  in  the  first  year  of  his  marriage,  was  born  Col 
onel  Burr's  only  legitimate  child,  a  daughter,  whom  he  named 
Theodosia.  She  had  a  joyful  welcome  into  the  world,  the 
beautiful  child  who  was  to  have  so  terrible  an  exit  from  it. 
A  father,  ever  fond,  if  not  ever  wise,  received  to  his  arms  the 
infant  who  was  to  be  to  him  so  much  more  than  a  daughter, 
when  her  indomitable  fidelity  was  all  that  linked  him  to  the 
family  of  man. 

Colonel  Burr  practiced  law  in  Albany  for  more  than  eight 
een  months,  with  the  greatest  success  possible  in  the  circum 
stances  of  the  time.  As  soon  as  peace  was  declared,  he  made 
arrangements  for  removing  to  New  York.  A  house  was  hired 
for  him  in  Maiden  Lane,  at  two  hundred  pounds  a  year,  the 
"  rent  to  commence  when  the  troops  leave  the  city."  That 
event,  as  New  Yorkers  are  still  annually  reminded  by  parades 
and  festivities,  occurred  on  the  25th  of  November,  1783  ;  soon 
after  which  date  Colonel  Burr  removed  his  family  to  the  city 
and  began  his  career  as  a  New  York  lawyer. 

The  preparatory  period  of  Colonel  Burr's  life  was  now  com 
pletely  past.  As  a  finished  man  and  practiced  lawyer  he  en- 
erg  upon  the  new  scene  to  contend  with  his  equals  for  the 
nonors  of  his  profession  and  the  prizes  of  society.  Up  to  the 
Dresent  time  his  character  and  conduct  have  appeared  only 
n  an  honorable  light,  because  only  the  qualities  in  which  he 
really  excelled  have  been  exhibited — his  courage,  his  activity, 
kia  generosity,  his  address.  John  Adams  testifies  of  him  that 


140  LIFE     OP    AABON    BUBB. 

he  came  out  of  the  revolutionary  war  "  with  the  character  of 
a  knight,  without  fear,  and  an  able  officer,"  and  the  fact  that 
so  many  excellent  and  discerning  gentlemen  admired  and 
loved  him,  and  that  so  many  amiable  ladies  were  his  friends, 
is  confirmatory  of  the  assertion.  I  am  convinced  that  society 
had  nothing  serious  to  charge  him  with  up  to  the  time  of  his 
joining  the  bar  of  this  city.  I  am  sure  he  had  not  been 
"  profligate."  The  probabilities  are  in  favor  of  the  opinion 
that  he  had  not  yet  had  one  amour  of  a  criminal  kind,  nor  in 
curred  an  obligation  which  he  had  not  discharged. 

It  is  important  to  bear  this  in  mind,  for  the  instructive  and 
impressive  moral  of  his  story  depends  upon  its  truth.  They 
who  describe  good  men  to  be  faultless,  and  bad  men  as  devils, 
rob  mankind  of  the  benefit  of  their  example.  The  good  ex 
ample  discourages,  and  the  bad  one  does  not  alarm  us.  We 
despair  of  imitating  the  one,  and  are  not  in  the  least  afraid  of 
coming  to  resemble  the  other.  But  when  a  good  man  is  truly 
delineated,  every  one  sees  the  simplicity  and  attain ablen ess  of 
goodness,  and  how  many  faults  a  man  may  have,  and  yet  hia 
character  be  essentially  just  and  noble.  How  encouraging 
this  to  a  youth  who  has  sense  enough  to  be  conscious  of  hia 
faults,  and  who  aspires  to  emulate  the  sublime  characters  of 
history.  So  of  bad  men.  When  their  characters  are  truly 
drawn,  we  are  more  likely  to  be  surprised  at  the  number  of 
good  qualities  they  possessed,  than  horrified  at  their  bad  ones. 
And  this  is,  in  truth,  of  all  the  facts  in  the  case,  the  most  ap 
palling  !  That  a  man  may  be  so  good,  and  yet  not  GOOD  ; 
^  that  he  may  come  so  near  excellence,  and  yet  so  fatally  misa 
;  that  he  may  be  so  little  removed  in  moral  quality  from 
many  who  pass  the  ordeal  of  life  with  little  reproach,  and  yet 
incur  so  deep  a  damnation — these  are  the  facts  which  move 
and  scare  us  when  we  know  aright  and  fully  the  men  who 
figure  in  history  as  atrocious  characters.  Carlyle's  delinea 
tion  of  Robespierre  is  the  finest  example,  perhaps,  of  this  cor 
rect  portrayal  of  a  bad  man's  character  that  has  been  given  tc 
the  world.  The  frightened  reader,  as  he  closes  the  awfu. 
Btory,  has  no  maledictions  for  the  wretched  tyrant ;  but  sigh 
xng,  says,  "  J,  too,  might  have  been  a  Robespierre." 


ADMISSION    TO    THE    BAB,     AND     MARRIAGE.       341 

Youth  is  the  lovely  robe  beneath  which  the  character  is 
concealed  while  it  forms ;  or  it  is  the  flower  which  precedes 
the  fruit,  and  which  is  often  as  beautiful  on  the  tree  that  is 
going  to  bear  ill  fruit,  or  none,  as  upon  that  which  will  yellow 
the  plain  with  its  abundant  golden  showers. 


CHAPTER    X. 

AT    THE    NEW    YORK    BAR. 

Rxw  YOBK  IN  1788— JOHN  ADAMS'S  IMPRESSIONS  OF  THE  CITY —  THE  DIFFEBWO 
KINDS  OF  LAWYERS  —  BURR'S  QUALITY  AND  HABITS  AS  A  LAWYER  — ANECDOTES  — 
HAMILTON  AND  BURR  AT  THE  BAR  — EMOLUMENTS  OF  THE  BAB  THEN  — THI  TASTM 
AND  HOME  OF  BURR  — SCENES  AT  EIOHMOND  HILL. 

COLONEL  BURR  had  removed  to  what  we  should  now  call  a 
small  town. 

From  1722,  when  Jonathan  Edwards  had  been  accustomed 
to  go  out  beyond  the  suburbs  of  New  York  to  the  banks  of 
"Hudson's  river,"  and  meditate  with  ecstacy  upon  the  deep 
things  of  his  theology,  to  1783,  when  his  grandson  moved 
down  from  Albany  to  his  fine  house  in  Maiden  Lane,  to  prac 
tice  law  in  the  liberated  city,  was  a  period  of  sixty-one  years, 
during  which  New  York  had  increased  in  population  from 
eight  thousand  to  twenty-five  thousand.  It  was  the  second 
city  in  the  United  States,  Philadelphia  having  a  population 
learly  twice  as  numerous.  The  State  of  New  York,  at  that 
ime,  had  less  than  three  hundred  thousand  inhabitants,  about 
i  third  of  the  number  which  now  the  city  alone  contains.  In 
the  year  1800,  the  city  could  only  number  sixty  thousand  in- 
habitants,  and  the  State  about  half  a  million.  The  contract, 
edness  of  Burr's  sphere  of  labor  it  is  necessary  to  bear  ic 
mind. 

When  John  Adams  made  his  triumphal  progress  from  Bos 
ton  to  Philadelphia  to  attend  the  first  Congress,  he  stopped  2 
few  days  in  New  York,  which  he  then  saw  for  the  first  time, 
and  described  in  his  Diary.  He  says  that  he  walked  to  every 
part  of  the  city  in  one  afternoon,  and  after  seeing  every  thing 
41  it  worthy  of  a  stranger's  attention,  went  to  the  Coffee 
Eouse  and  read  the  newspapers.  His  remarks,  however,  indi 


AT    THE    NEW     YORK     BA.B.  142 

cate  the  wealth  of  the  city.  He  speaks  of  the  elegant  country 
Beats  on  the  island ;  of  the  Broad  Way,  a  fine  street,  very  wide, 
and  in  a  right  line  from  one  end  to  the  other  of  the  city ;  of 
the  magnificent  new  church  then  building,  which  was  to  cost 
twenty  thousand  pounds  ;  of  the  new  hospital,  a  fine  structure 
of  stone ;  of  a  ship-yard,  where  a  Dutch  East  India  ship  of 
eight  hundred  tons  was  building  ;  of  the  "  beautiful  ellipsis  of 
land,  railed  in  with  solid  iron,  in  the  center  of  which  is  a 
statue  of  his  majesty  on  horseback,  very  large,  of  solid  lead, 
gilded  with  gold,  on  a  pedestal  of  marble,  very  high."  The 
streets  of  the  town,  he  adds,  are  "  vastly  more  regular  and 
elegant  than  those  in  Boston,  and  the  houses  are  more  grand, 
as  well  as  neat.  They  are  almost  all  painted,  brick  buildings 
and  all." 

In  the  course  of  a  day  or  two,  the  observant  and  plain- 
spoken  patriot  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  the  interior  of 
one  of  the  elegant  country  seats,  near  "  Hudson's  river." 
From  what  he  says  of  the  sumptuosity  of  his  entertainment, 
we  may  infer  that  then,  as  now,  the  New  Yorkers  were  pro 
fuse  and  ostentatious  in  their  style  of  living.  "  A  more  ele 
gant  breakfast,  I  never  saw,"  he  writes  ;  "  rich  plate,  a  very 
large  silver  coffee-pot,  a  very  large  silver  tea-pot,  napkins  of 
the  very  finest  materials,  toast,  and  bread  and  butter,  in  great 
perfection.  After  breakfast,  a  plate  of  beautiful  peaches, 
another  of  pears,  and  a  muskmelon,  were  placed  on  the 
table."  Napkins  and  silver  plate,  in  1774,  were  rare  luxu 
ries  in  all  but  the  very  highest  circles  of  European  nobility. 
The  rich  furniture  of  the  New  York  houses  excited  the  con 
tinual  wonder  of  the  honest  Bostonian  ;  but  the  people  of  the 
city  pleased  him  not.  "  With  all  the  opulence  and  splendor 
of  this  city,"  says  he,  "  there  is  very  little  good-breeding  to 
be  found.  We  have  been  treated  with  an  assiduous  respect 
but  I  have  not  seen  one  real  gentleman,  one  well-bred  man, 
eince  I  came  to  town.  At  their  entertainments  there  is  no 
conversation  that  is  agreeable  ;  there  is  no  modesty,  no  atten 
tion  to  one  another.  They  talk  very  loud,  very  fast,  and 
all  together.  If  they  ask  you  a  question,  before  you  can  utter 
"ihree  words  of  your  answer,  they  will  break  out  upon  you 


544  LIFE     OF     AARON    BtTKE. 

again,  and  talk  away."    New  York  strikes  the  Bostonian  of 
to-day  very  much  as  it  did  John  Adams  in  1774. 

The  Revolution  did  not  essentially  change  the  character  of 
the  place,  nor,  as  I  conjecture,  much  retard  its  progress  in 
wealth.  But  when  the  British  troops  evacuated  the  city,  many 
of  the  wealthiest  Tory  families,  all  the  British  officials,  and, 
ndeed,  most  of  those  who  had  been  regarded  as  the  "  society," 
of  the  town  went  with  them,  leaving  it  more  exclusively  a 
commercial  city  than  it  was.  When  we  read  in  the  letters 
and  memoirs  of  the  time  allusions  to  the  fascination  of  Colonel 
Burr's  manners,  and  of  the  great  things  he  accomplished 
merely  by  the  charm  of  his  address,  we  should,  perhaps,  at 
tribute  part  of  the  effects  to  the  general  absence  of  personal 
style  in  the  people.  The  honest,  kindly,  unornamental  class 
of  men  were  those  over  whom  his  sway  was  most  absolute ; 
and  it  was  in  a  bustling,  trading  town,  that  he  ran  the  brilliant 
part  of  his  career. 

Nor  had  he  many  competitors  for  the  higher  business  of 
his  profession.  The  history  of  the  American  bar  remains 
unwritten,  though  the  subject,  to  a  writer  able  to  handle  it, 
presents  unrivaled  capabilities.  We  are  left,  therefore,  to 
conjecture  the  strength  of  the  legal  profession  when  Burr  rose 
to  eminence  in  it.  John  Adams,  in  the  part  of  his  amusing 
Diary  just  referred  to,  speaks  of  two  or  three  lawyers  in  the 
city  to  whom  he  was  introduced,  and  whom  he  mentions  as 
persons  of  importance.  One  of  the  handsome  houses  that 
adorned  "  the  Broad  Way,"  was  pointed  out  to  him  as  the 
residence  of  the  famous  lawyer  "  Mr.  Smith,"  and  it  was  Mr. 
Scott,  "  an  eminent  lawyer,"  whose  "  very  large  silver  tea-pot" 
and  "  very  large  silver  coffee-pot,"  excited  Mr.  Adams's  aston 
ishment.  It  is  very  evident  that  the  law  was  a  lucrative  and 
important  profession  in  New  York  before  the  Revolution.  It 
is  equally  certain  that  the  disfranchisement  of  all  the  Tory  law 
yers,  and  the  complicated  suits  growing  out  of  the  laws  con- 
^seating  the  estates  of  Tories,  gave  to  an  able  and  active 
awyer,  just  after  the  Revolution,  a  most  productive  field  of 
jxertion.  Aaron  Burr  was  a  man  to  improve  such  an  oppor 
tunity.  He  came  here  a  practiced  lawyer.  His  name  and 


AT    THE    NEW     YORK     BAB.  14fi 

/iiicAge  were  of  vast  use  to  him.  The  memory  of  President 
Burr  was  fragrant  in  the  adjacent  States  ;  and  wherever  men 
and  women  in  those  days  were  trying  to  live  nobly,  the  name 
of  Jonathan  Edwards  was  a  name  of  power,  a  name  honorable 
and  august.  Hamilton  and  Adams  both  testify  that,  as  well 
in  politics  as  in  law,  the  celebrity  of  Burr's  father  and  grand 
father  contributed  powerfully  to  his  early  success.  Yet  in 
later  times  we  often  find  other  leading  federalists  sneering  at 
him  as  a  man  without  connections  ;  and  nothing  could  more 
clearly  prove  the  ignorance  which  prevailed  in  that  party  of 
the  country  they  aspired  to  govern.  As  New  England  under- 
stood  the  word,  no  man  had  such  connections  as  he.  Scarcely 
a  family  in  that  country  but  would  have  esteemed  it  an  honor 
to  receive  under  their  roof  the  descendant  of  Jonathan  Ed 
wards  and  President  Burr. 

Colonel  Burr  came  to  New  York,  apparently,  with  no  inten 
tion  to  take  any  part  in  politics.  As  soon  as  the  British  had 
'eft  the  city,  there  was  high  excitement  among  the  leading 
citizens  relative  to  the  offices  which  were  to  be  filled.  The 
State  government  had  been  organized  long  ago,  and  George 
Clinton  was  governor.  But  the  city,  remaining  in  the  posses 
sion  of  the  enemy,  had  deprived  the  governor  of  his  choicest 
patronage,  which  now  was  to  be  bestowed,  all  at  once,  upon 
long-expectant  Whigs.  Some  influential  friends  at  Albany, 
who  had  a  great  opinion  of  Colonel  Burr's  talents  for  the  dis 
patch  of  business,  urged  him  to  apply  for  an  appointment  in 
the  city.  He  said,  in  reply,  that  he  was  unwilling  to  be  a 
competitor  with  any  gentleman  for  an  office.  Then,  said 
Judge  Bogart,  you  must  be  contented  with  the  character  of  a 
private  gentleman,  for  there  are  long  lists  of  applicants  for  all 
the  offices  in  the  city  and  county  of  New  York.  And  a  pri 
vate  gentleman  he  remained.  The  steps  by  which  he  was 
gradually  drawn  from  the  exclusive  pursuit  of  his  profession 
to  mingle  in  political  strife,  will  be  narrated  in  a  subsequent 
chapter.  It  is  convenient  now  to  regard  him  only  as  a  lawyer. 
tn  which  character  he  chiefly  presents  himself  during  the  lirst 
eight  years  of  his  residence  in  New  York.  True,  he  served 
for  two  sessions,  those  of  1784  a.id  1785,  in  the  State  legisla 


146  LIFE     OP     AARON     BURB. 

ture ;  but  he  attended  the  chamber  only  at  important  crises 
From  1783  until  1791,  the  practice  of  the  law  absorbed  the 
greater  part  of  his  time  and  attention.  He  was  an  ambitious 
man,  then  as  always.  But,  until  the  formation  of  the  general 
government  in  1789,  what  was  there  in  politics  to  excite  desire 
in  a  man  of  ability  ? 

Aaron  Burr,  a  soldier  by  nature,  a  lawyer  from  necessity, 
was  the  same  man  at  the  bar  as  he  had  been  in  the  field,  and 
conducted  a  suit  precisely  on  the  principles  which  he  had  ap 
plied  to  the  capture  of  a  fort,  and  the  defense  of  the  West- 
chester  lines. 

Lawyers  may,  perhaps,  be  divided  into  three  classes.  To 
the  first  belong  the  great  souls,  who  love  justice,  and  who  love 
law  as  the  means  by  which  justice  is  done.  Of  such  lawyers,  few 
everywhere,  the  American  bar  can  boast,  at  least,  its  fair  pro 
portion.  The  second  class  comprises  the  majority  of  prac 
titioners,  whose  single  consideration  it  is  to  serve  their  clients 
by  all  the  means  which  the  bar  stamps  legitimate.  If  they 
triumph,  it  is  well,  whether  justice  triumphs  with  them  or 
not,  whether  their  triumph  is  due  to  a  recognized  legal  trick, 
or  to  a  right  interpretation  of  the  law.  The  third  class  are 
simply  unscrupulous.  They  hang  upon  the  outskirts  of  the 
profession  and  prey  upon  its  offal.  It  is  their  trade  to  assist, 
to  protect,  and  to  deliver  villains.  To  be  a  lawyer  of  the  first 
description,  and  to  excel  in  it,  demands  a  broad,  comprehen 
sive,  noble  UNDERSTANDING.  The  second  class  requires  a  quick, 
acute  intellect,  tact,  adroitness,  self-possession,  and  great  phys 
ical  stamina,  together  with  a  certain  moral  obtuseness,  which 
enables  a  man  to  do  in  his  professional,  what  he  would  not  do 
ki  his  private  capacity.  The  third  kind  of  lawyer  is  merely  a 
scoundrel,  cunning  enough  to  obtain  the  rewards  of  crime 
without  incurring  its  risks. 

To  a  place  among  the  greatest  lawyers,  Aaron  Burr  has  no 
title.  He  had  not  weight  of  metal  enough  for  that.  He  was 
a  light  person  ;  tough,  elastic,  polished,  penetrating,  a  perfect 
rapier,  not  a  broadsword ;  successful,  while  he  did  rapier'a 
work,  failing  when  a  heavier  blade  was  needed  in  his  place, 
A.S  a  lawyer  of  the  second  grade,  as  a  mere  practitioner  at  thi 


AT    THE    NEW    YORK     BAB.  147 

wr,  I  presume  his  equal  never  lived.  In  his  hands,  the  law 
fvas  a  whole  armory  of  weapons,  in  the  use  of  which,  aa 
Weapons,  his  daring  was  only  equaled  by  his  skill. 

In  preparing  his  causes  for  trial,  he  was  simply  indefatigable. 
While  there  was  an  authority  to  be  examined,  while  there 
was  evidence  to  be  procured,  while  there  was  an  expedient  to 
be  devised,  his  efforts  were  never  relaxed.  And  he  gave  no 
rest  to  his  adversary,  pursuing  him  with  notices,  motions,  and 
appeals,  improving  every  advantage,  and  exhausting  all  the 
means  of  annoyance ;  until,  from  very  weariness  and  despair, 
sometimes,  the  enemy  has  capitulated.  Colonel  Burr  not  only 
labored  himself  to  the  uttermost  of  the  powers  of  man,  but  he 
had  the  art  of  exacting  from  his  assistants  an  equal  diligence. 
There  was  no  resisting  his  requirements.  Assistant-counsel 
would  receive  notes  from  him  at  midnight,  when  they  were' 
asleep,  demanding  instant  replies,  which  obliged  the  drowsy 
men  of  law  to  refer  to  authorities  and  examine  papers.  On 
the  day  of  trial,  he  had  his  evidence,  arguments,  and  author 
ities,  marshaled  in  impenetrable  array.  Every  possibility  had 
been  provided  for.  No  man  at  the  bar  could  ever  boast  of 
discovering  a  flaw  in  his  preparation,  or  of  carrying  a  point 
against  him  by  surprise. 

Where  no  amount  of  legitimate  preparation  would  avail,  he 
had  no  scruples  to  employing  a  legal  ruse.  Indeed  he  delight 
ed  to  surprise  his  adversary,  to  lay  an  ambuscade  for  him,  and 
carry  a  case  by  an  ingenious  stroke  before  the  other  side  could 
recover  their  self-possession.  It  is  related,  that,  in  an  eject 
ment  suit  to  recover  a  valuable  house  in  New  York,  the  oppo 
sing  counsel  had  expended  their  whole  strength  in  proving 
the  genuineness  of  a  will,  supposing,  of  course,  that  that  was 
the  only  point  susceptible  of  dispute.  What  was  their  surprise 
to  find,  that  Burr's  main  attack  was  against  the  authenticity 
of  an  ancient  deed,  one  of  the  links  in  the  title,  which,  having 
i  ever  before  been  disputed,  had  been  provided  with  merely 
formal  proof!  The  jury  pronounced  the  deed  a  forgery,  and 
Burr's  client  lived  ajnd  died  in  possession  of  the  property. 
Two  courts  have  since  pronounced  the  deed  authentic. 

No  means  were  too  trival  io~  him  to  employ,  if  he  thought 


148  LIFE     OP     AAEON     BUBB. 

them  likely  to  promote  his  purpose  He  used  to  say  that  h* 
had  once  saved  a  man  from  being  hanged  by  a  certain  arrange 
ment  of  the  candles  in  a  court  room.  He  referred  to  a  tria. 
for  murder,  in  which  both  Hamilton  and  himself  defended  the 
prisoner,  and  which  excited  intense  interest  at  the  time.  At 
first,  the  evidence  against  the  prisoner  seemed  conclusive,  and, 
I  think,  Burr  himself  thought  him  guilty.  But  as  the  trial 
proceeded,  suspicions  arose  against  the  principal  witness. 
Colonel  Burr  subjected  him  to  a  relentless  cross-examination, 
and  he  became  convinced  that  the  guilt  lay  between  the  wit 
ness  and  the  prisoner,  with  the  balance  of  probability  against 
the  witness. 

The  man's  appearance  and  bearing  were  most  unprepos 
sessing.  Besides  being  remarkably  ugly,  he  had  the  mean, 
down  look,  which  is  associated  with  the  timidity  of  guilt. 
HamU/on  had  addressed  the  jury  with  his  usual  fluent  elo 
quence,  confining  his  remarks  to  the  vindication  of  the  pris 
oner,  without  alluding  to  the  probable  guilt  of  the  witness.  The 
prosecuting  attorney  replied,  and  it  was  now  Burr's  province 
to  say  the  last  word  for  the  prisoner.  But  the  day  had  worn 
away,  and  the  court  took  a  recess  till  candle  light.  This  was 
extremely  annoying  to  Colonel  Burr,  as  he  meditated  enacting 
\  little  scene,  to  the  success  of  which  a  strong  light  was  indis- 
oensable.  He  was  not  to  be  balked,  however.  Through  one 
of  his  satellites,  of  whom  he  always  had  several  revolving 
around  him,  he  caused  an  extra  number  of  candles  to  be 
brought  into  the  court-room,  and  to  be  so  arranged  as  to 
throw  a  strong  light  upon  a  certain  pillar,  in  full  view  of  the 
jury,  against  which  the  suspected  witness  had  leaned  through 
out  the  trial.  The  court  assembled,  the  man  resumed  his  ac 
customed  place,  and  Colonel  Burr  rose.  With  the  clear  con 
ciseness  of  which  he  was  master,  he  set  forth  the  facts  which 
bore  against  the  man,  and  then,  seizing  two  candelabras  from 
the  table,  he  held  them  up  toward  him,  throwing  a  glare  of 
light  upon  his  face,  and  exclaimed, 

"  Behold  the  murderer,  gentlemen  !" 

Every  eye  was  turned  upon  the  wretch's  ghastly  counts 
*ance,  which,  to  the  excited  multitude,  seemed  to  wear  tht 


AT    THE     NEW     YORK     BAR.  144 

fery  expression  of  a  convicted  murderer.  The  man  reeled, 
as  though  he  had  been  struck ;  then  shrunk  away  behind  the 
crowd,  and  rushed  from  the  room.  The  effect  of  this  incident 
was  decisive.  Colonel  Burr  concluded  his  speech,  the  judge 
charged,  the  jury  gave  a  verdict  of  acquittal,  and  the  prisoner 
was  free. 

A  ruse  which  he  once  played  on  General  Hamilton,  Burr  re 
lated  to  a  legal  friend,  who  told  it  to  me.  It  occurred  early 
in  his  practice  at  the  New  York  bar,  when  he  and  Hamilton 
were  in  the  first  flush  of  success,  and  neither  was  disposed  to 
concede  superiority  to  the  other.  Both  were  engaged,  for 
the  first  time,  on  the  same  side  of  an  important  cause,  and  it 
was  a  question  which  of  the  two  should  first  address  the  jury. 
The  etiquette  of  the  bar  assigns  the  closing  speech  to  the 
leader  of  a  cause,  but  it  was  not  clear  in  this  case  who  was 
the  leader.  Hamilton,  who  was  certainly  not  au  excessively 
modest  man,  hinted,  in  a  rather  ungracious  manner,  as  Burr 
thought,  that  his  friend  Colonel  Burr  would  open  the  argu 
ment.  With  that  imperturbable  politeness  that  never  forsook 
him,  Burr  assented  to  the  arrangement  without  a  word  of  ob 
jection.  He  was  nettled,  however,  and  hit  upon  a  little 
Beheme  of  harmless  revenge.  He.  knew  well  the  character  of 
Hamilton's  mind,  and,  from  repeated  conversations  with  him 
on  the  cause  in  which  they  were  engaged,  he  knew  every 
point  which  Hamilton  would  be  likely  to  make  in  his  speech. 
Burr  prepared  himself  with  great  care.  When  he  came  at 
length  to  address  the  jury,  besides  using  his  own  arguments, 
he  anticipated  all  of  Hamilton's.  He  absolutely  exhausted  the 
case.  There  was  nothing  left  for  Hamilton  to  advance.  The 
consequence  was  that  that  gentleman  appeared  to  much  lesa 
advantage  than  usual,  and  never  afterward  exhibited  an  undue 
desire  to  assume  the  place  of  honor  in  suits  which  he  con 
ducted  conjointly  with  Colonel  Burr. 

A  few  of  Burr's  maxims  respecting  the  practice  of  the  law 
have  been  preserved.  His  sarcastic  definition  of  law,  as  dealt 
*ut  by  courts,  has  been  often  quoted  to  his  disadvantage. 
*  Law,"  said  he,  "  is  whatever  is  boidly  asserted  and  plausibly 
maintained."  Whether  the  sarcasm  is,  or  was  deserved,  lei 


150  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

.awyers  decide.  Another  of  his  sayings  related  to  the  man 
agement  of  a  case,  after  the  enemy  had  proposed  to  capitulate 
Until  that  point  was  reached,  he  was  for  giving  them  no  rest 
But  when  a  proposition  for  compromise  had  been  received,  he 
would  say,  "  Now  move  slowly,  never  negotiate  in  a  hurry." 
But  the  best  of  all  his  observations,  at  least,  the  most  strik 
ing  and  novel,  was  the  following :  "  There  is  a  maxim,"  said 
he,  "  *  Never  put  off  till  to-morrow  what  you  can  do  to-day.' 
This  is  a  maxim  for  sluggards.  A  better  reading  of  it  is, 
Never  do  to-day  what  you  can  as  well  do  to-morrow  /  because 
something  may  occur  to  make  you  regret  your  premature  ac 
tion."  He  used  also,  to  say,  that  the  art  of"  using  men  con 
sisted  in  placing  each  in  the  position  he  was  best  fitted  for ; 
a  version  of  the  recent  phrase,  "  The  right  man  for  the  right 
place." 

He  showed  unequaled  tact  himself  in  placing  his  men. 
Before  selecting  his  assistants  in  a  cause,  he  would  ascertain 
and  carefully  calculate  all  the  opposing  influences — prejudice, 
interest,  indifference,  ignorance,  political,  local,  and  family 
feeling — and  choose  the  men  likeliest  to  combat  them  with 
effect.  If  there  was  a  crank  in  the  mind  of  a  judge,  he 
would  find  the  hand  that  could  turn  it  to  his  advantage.  If 
there  was  a  prejudice  in  the  mind  of  a  jury,  he  would  con 
trive,  by  some  means,  to  bring  it  to  bear  in  favor  of  his  cli 
ent.  If  learning  and  eloquence  were  essential,  he  would 
enlist  their  aid  also.  But  his  forte  was  in  playing  upon 
the  amiable  weaknesses  of  human  nature.  Above  these,  the 
great  man  lifts  his  hearers ;  for  the  time,  makes  them  noble 
and  reasonable ;  and  while  they  are  so,  convinces  them.  To 
Aaron  Burr  this  majestic  kind  of  mastery  over  men  was  not 
given. 

As  in  the  battle-field,  so  in  the  crises  of  a  suit,  his  compos 
ure  was  perfect.  The  most  unexpected  event  could  not  star 
tle  him.  One  day,  as  he  and  two  other  lawyers  were  arguing, 
in  the  court  of  chancery,  a  case  in  which  he  appeared  for  9 
very  intimate  friend  of  many  years'  standing,  and  in  which  he 
himself  had  an  interest,  a  letter  was  handed  him  by  a  messen 
Bfer.  Apologizing,  and  requesting  the  lawyers  to  proceed  hr 


A.T     THE     NEW     YORK    BAR.  151 

debate,  he  opened  the  letter,  read  it  carefully,  and  then, 
in  his  usual  manner,  refolded  it,  and  laid  it  on  the  table 

with  the  address  downward.     The  discussion  proceeded  for 

bout  ten  minutes  longer.  Colonel  Burr  listened  with  his 
usual  attention,  and,  when  a  pause  occurred,  asked  in  his  gen- 

lest  and  quietest  tone,  as  if  merely  to  solve  a  legal  doubt 
which  had  casually  risen  in  his  mind,  "  What  effect  would 

he  death  of  my  client  have  on  the  suit  ?"  The  lawyers 
started,  and  eagerly  inquired  his  reason  for  asking.  "  He  is 
dead,"  replied  Burr,  "  as  I  learn  from  this  letter ;  will  the 
suit  abate  ?" 

From  the  strictness  of  his  practice,  he  has  been  called  a 
legal  martinet.  He  asked  no  favors,  and  granted  none.  He 
defied  an  opponent  to  catch  him,  tripping,  and  he  never  failed 
to  subject  his  opponent's  argument  to  just  such  treatment  as 
he  had  taken  infinite  pains  to  guard  his  own  against.  So  fond 
was  he  of  the  technicalities  of  the  law,  that  occasionally  he 
indulged  in  them  to  the  detriment  of  his  client.  At  the  same 
time,  no  man  was  more  observant  of  the  proper  courtesies  of 
the  bar ;  like  a  true  knight,  all  complaisance,  till  the  lists  were 
joined,  and  the  signal  given  for  the  fight ;  then  the  time  had 
come  for  hard  blows  and  rapid  thrusts. 

Burr  valued  himself  little  upon  his  oratorical  powers,  and 
he  used  to  say  that  he  had  seldom  spoken  with  pleasure  or 
satisfaction  to  himself.  His  pleadings  at  the  bar  were  more 
in  the  style  of  conversation  than  oratory,  it  is  said ;  the  con 
versation,  however,  of  a  well-bred,  thoroughly-informed  man 
of  the  world.  He  never  declaimed.  He  was  never  diffuse; 
a  long  speech  he  never  delivered  in  his  life.  In  concise,  pre 
cise,  and,  therefore,  simple  language,  he  contrived  to  clothe 
the  essential  points  of  his  argument,  and  to  lodge  them  in  the 
•nind  of  judge  and  jury  so  firmly  that  no  bursts  of  eloquence 
from  the  other  Side  could  remove  them.  There  was  a  vein  of 
quiet  sarcasm  in  some  of  his  speeches,  which,  it  is  said,  wa 
exceedingly  effective.  With  a  manner  always  serious,  he  occa 
sionally  rose  to  be  impressive,  and  produced  effects  upon  the 
minds  of  his  hearers  that  were  long  remembered.  It  is  cer 
tain,  from  the  writings  of  the  time,  tnat  he  was  regarded  a* 


152  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BUBB. 

a  great  speaker ;  as  great  in  his  way  as  General  Hamilton  wa* 
in  his ;  and  it  was  oaid  that  the  extremely  interesting  charac 
ter  of  Burr's  speeches,  no  less  than  their  conciseness,  made  it 
difficult  to  report  them.  The  courtliness  of  his  manner,  the 
air  of  perfect  breeding  that  invested  him,  and  the  singular 
composure  of  his  bearing,  all  contributed,  doubtless,  to  the 
effect  of  his  public  addresses.  From  the  traditions  still  pre 
served  in  old  Presbyterian  families  respecting  the  eloquence 
of  President  Burr,  I  infer  that  the  son's  style  of  speaking  was 
extremely  like  that  of  the  father. 

To  Alexander  Hamilton,  his  friend  and  rival,  Colonel  Burr 
freely  conceded  the  palm  of  eloquence.  He  did  justice  to  the 
powers  of  that  able  man,  with  whom  he  contended  for  the 
honors  of  his  profession  and  the  prizes  of  public  life,  for 
twenty  years.  To  the  strength  and  fertility  of  Hamilton's 
imagination,  to  his  fine  rhetorical  powers,  to  his  occasional 
flashes  of  poetical  genius,  and  to  the  force  of  his  declamation, 
Colonel  Burr  paid  the  tribute  of  admiration.  The  two  men 
were  antagonists  by  nature ;  but,  during  these  happy  years, 
each  had  a  high,  if  not  an  exaggerated  opinion  of  the  other's 
talents. 

An  aged  member  of  the  bar  described  to  me  the  manner  of 
the  two  men  in  their  public  addresses.  Hamilton's  way  was 
to  exhaust  a  case  ;  giving  ample  statement  to  every  point ; 
anticipating  every  objection  ;  saying  every  thing  that  could 
fairly  be  said  in  the  fullest  manner.  He  would  speak  for  two 
or  three  hours,  enchaining  the  attention  of  court  and  jury  by 
his  fluent  and,  sometimes,  lofty  eloquence.  Burr,  in  replying, 
would  select  two  or  three  vulnerable,  yet  vital  points  of  Ham 
ilton's  speech,  and  quietly  demolish  them,  and  leave  all  the 
other  parts  of  his  oration  untouched.  In  a  twenty  minutes' 
speech,  he  has  been  known  completely  to  neutralize  the  effect 
of  one  of  Hamilton's  elaborate  and  ornate  addresses.  Burr 
beg*ui  practice  upon  the  principle  of  never  undertaking  a  cause 
tfhicn  he  did  not  feel  sure  of  gaining ;  and  I  am  assured  by 
another  venerable  lawyer  of  this  city,  who  was  frequently 
engaged  with  Burr,  that  he  never  in  his  life  lost  a  case 
which  he  personally  conducted.  It  is,  at  least,  certain 


AT    THE     NEW     YORK     BAB.  153 

that  he  gained  over  Hamilton  some  signal  and  unexpected 
triumphs.* 

On  his  arrival  in  New  York,  Colonel  Burr  seems,  at  once, 
to  have  taken  his  place  among  the  leaders  of  the  bar,  and  he 
retained  that  position  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century,  though, 
during  that  period,  the  bar  of  New  York  trebled  its  numbers. 
With  the  single  exception  of  Hamilton,  no  lawyer  in  the  State 
held  so  high  a  position  as  he,  and  none  in  the  country  held  a 
higher. 

With  regard  to  the  income  derivable  from  the  practice  of 
the  law  at  that  time,  it  is  difficult  to  obtain  information.  At 
the  present  day,  a  lawyer  is  considered  to  be  in  good  practice 
who  has  a  clear  gain  of  four  thousand  dollars  a  year.  Ten 
thousand  dollars  is  thought  a  very  large  revenue  :  it  is  ques 
tionable  if  there  are  one  hundred  lawyers  in  the  United  States 
who  earn  so  much.  An  average  income  of  twenty  thousand 
is  as  great  as  the  half  dozen  leading  lawyers  of  the  country  can 
boast ;  though,  occasionally,  a  lawyer  will  make  that  sum  by  a 
single  case,  or  even  twice  as  much.  In  early  times,  profes 
sional  incomes  could  scarcely  have  been  as  large  as  they  are 
now.  Among  the  letters  of  Alexander  Hamilton  there  is  one 
from  a  New  York  merchant,  retaining  the  services  of  Hamil 
ton  in  any  suits  the  merchant  might  have  for  five  years.  In 
closed  in  the  letter  was  a  note  for  a  thousand  dollars,  payable 
at  the  end  of  the  five  years,  with  interest  at  five  per  cent. 

*  General  Erastus  Root,  who  was  well  acquainted  with  Burr  in  the  height 
of  his  celebrity,  was  with  him  in  the  Assembly  and  in  Congress,  and  often 
heard  him  speak  in  the  courts,  gives  the  following  opinion  of  the  powers  of  the 
two  men :  "  As  a  lawyer  and  as  a  scholar  Burr  was  not  inferior  to  Hamilton. 
His  reasoning  powers  were  at  least  equal.  Their  modes  of  argument  were 
very  different.  Hamilton  was  very  diffuse  and  wordy.  His  words  were  so 
well  chosen,  and  his  sentences  so  finely  formed  into  a  swelling  current,  that 
the  hearer  would  be  captivated.  The  listener  would  admire,  if  he  was  not 
convinced.  Burr's  arguments  were  generally  methodized  and  compact.  I 
ised  to  say  of  them,  when  they  were  rivals  at  the  bar,  that  Burr  would  say  as 
r.uch  in  half  an  hour  as  Hamilton  in  two  hours.  Burr  was  terse  and  con- 
Uncing,  while  Hamilton  was  flowing  and  rapturous.  They  were  much  the 
greatest  men  in  this  State,  and  perhaps  the  greatest  men  in  the  Uniten 
."--jaamm0nd's  History  of  Political  Parties  in  the  Stale  of  New  York 


154  .  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BUKR. 

Upon  the  letter  is  an  indorsement,  in  Hamilton's  hand,  to  the 
effect  that  the  note  had  been  "  returned,  as  being  too  muck." 
Certainly  the  present  leaders  of  the  New  York  bar  would  not 
take  so  modest  a  view  of  the  value  of  their  services.  William 
Wirt,  of  Virginia,  a  very  brilliant  and  successful  lawyer,  prac 
ticing  in  the  dominant  State  of  the  Union,  mentions,  that  in 
1802,  he  had  an  income  of  twelve  hundred  pounds  a  year.  A 
few  years  later,  while  passing  through  New  York  to  try  n 
cause  in  Boston,  he  visited  some  of  the  New  York  courts,  and 
inquired  respecting  the  fees  of  the  lawyers.  He  was  astonished 
at  their  smallness,  and  said  a  Virginia  lawyer  would  starve  on 
such  fees.  From  such  indications  as  these,  it  is  perhaps  safe  to 
infer  that  Hamilton  and  Burr  may  have  had  professional  in 
comes  of  ten  thousand  dollars  a  year,  but  not  more,  on  an 
average.  Burr  used  to  say  that  he  had  made  forty  thousand 
dollars  from  one  cause,  but  whether  it  was  as  a  lawyer  or  a 
speculator  that  he  gained  so  much,  is  not  clear.  Speculation 
in  lands  was  much  the  rage  among  the  leading  men  of  the 
country  during  the  first  twenty  years  after  the  Revolution,  and 
no  one  was  fonder  of  that  fascinating  game  than  Burr.  Fre 
quently  he  united,  in  his  land  transactions,  the  characters  of 
lawyer  and  of  speculator,  receiving  lands  in  payment  for  pro 
fessional  services,  and  then  disposing  of  them  to  the  best  ad 
vantage  he  could. 

His  style  of  living  kept  pace  with  his  increasing  income. 
In  a  few  years  we  find  him  master  of  Richmond  Hill,  the 
mansion  where  Washington  had  lived  in  1776,  with  grounds 
reaching  to  the  Hudson,  with  ample  gardens,  and  a  consider 
able  extent  of  grove  and  farm.  Here  he  maintained  a  liberal 
establishment,  and  exercised  the  hospitality  which  was  then  in 
vogue.  Talleyrand,  Volney,  Louis  Philippe,  and  other  strang 
ers  of  distinction,  whom  the  French  Revolution  drove  into 
exile,  were  entertained  with  princely  profusion  and  elegance 
at  Richmond  Hill.  With  Talleyrand  and  Volney,  Burr  became 
particularl}  intimate.  The  one  particular  in  which  Richmond 
Hill  surpassed  the  other  houses  of  equal  pretensions,  was  its 
.ibrary.  From  his  college  days,  Colonel  Burr  had  been  a 
tealous  buyer  of  books,  and  his  stock  had  gone  on  increasing 


AT     THE     NEW     YORK     BAB.  155 

till,  on  attaining  to  the  dignity  of  householder,  he  was  able  tc 
give  to  his  miscellaneous  collection  something  of  the  com 
pleteness  of  a  library.  It  was  customary  then  for  gentlemen 
to  have  accounts  witn  booksellers  in  London,  and  the  arrival 
of  the  English  packet  was  an  event  of  interest  to  persons  of 
taste  from  the  literary  treasures  it  usually  brought.  Colonel 
Burr  was  one  of  those  who  had  their  London  bookseller  ;  to 
whom  he  was  an  excellent  customer.  It  is  evident  enough, 
from  his  correspondence,  that  his  favorite  authors  were  still 
those  whom  the  "  well-constituted  minds"  of  that  day  regarded 
with  admiring  horror.  The  volumes  of  Gibbon's  History  were 
appearing  in  those  years,  striking  the  orthodox  world  with 
wonder  and  dismay .  They  had  a  very  hearty  welcome  in  the 
circle  at  Richmond  Hill.  Colonel  Burr  read  them,  and  often, 
while  absent  from  home  at  some  distant  court,  reminds  his  wife 
of  their  excellence,  and  urges  her  to  study  them  with  care. 
Indeed,  Gibbon  was  an  author  quite  after  Aaron  Burr's  own 
heart. 

Another  name  of  horror,  a  few  years  later,  was  William 
Godwin  (Charles  Lamb's  friend),  the  most  amiable  of  the 
human  species,  and,  one  would  now  suppose,  the  most  harm 
less.  He  was  one  of  those  lovers  of  his  kind  who  believe  in 
man  as  saints  once  believed  in  God.  A  passionate  lover  of 
justice,  a  passionate  hater  of  wrong,  he  waged  a  well-meant, 
ineffectual  warfare  against  the  State  of  Things.  He  held  opin 
ions  respecting  the  Rights  of  Woman,  Marriage  and  Divorce, 
and  the  Administration  of  Justice,  which  are  peculiarly  ob 
noxious  to  persons  of  a  conservative  cast  of  character.  Burr 
liked  this  man  and  his  writings.  In  one  of  the  letters  in 
which  Hamilton  recounts  the  enormities  of  Burr,  he  says,  by 
way  of  climax,  that  he  had  heard  him  talk  rank  Godwlnism! 
Of  Mary  Wolstoncroft,  the  wife  of  William  Godwin,  Burr 
had  an  exquisite  portrait  among  his  few  pictures. 

Jeremy  Bentham  was  another  of  his  favorites.  At  a  time 
when  the  more  name  of  the  great  Apostle  of  Utilitarianism 
«ras  known  only  to  half  a  dozen  of  the  most  intelligent  minds 
:m  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  Colonel  Burr  was  a  reader  of  his 
vorks,  and  conceived  fo~  cheir  author  the  highest  opinion 


156  LIFE     OF    AARON    BURR. 

Benthamism  has  had  its  day ;  it  only  excites  wonder  in  us 
now  that  so  estimable  a  man  should  have  found  delight  in 
Buch  dreary  doctrine  ;  but  it  is  certain  that  to  be  a  reader  ot 
Bentham  during  the  period  now  under  consideration,  was  tc 
be  a  partaker  of  the  most  advanced  thought  of  the  time, 
Benthamism  was,  as  a  great  critic  has  remarked,  "  a  deter 
minate  being,  what  all  the  world,  in  a  cowardly,  half-and-half 
manner,  was  tending  to  be."  "  An  eyeless  heroism,"  tht 
same  writer  styles  it.  Along  with  Burr,  Albert  Gallatin  was 
a  lover  of  Bentham ;  and  it  is  likely  enough  that  Burr  de 
rived  his  first  knowledge  of  Bentham  through  Gallatin. 

The  "  Edinburg  Review,"  Scott's  early  poems,  the  Macken- 
zie's  and  Miss  Burnett's  novels,  in  a  word,  all  the  attractive 
literature  of  the  day,  found  its  way,  very  soon  after  publica 
tion,  to  Richmond  Hill. 

What  happy  years  were  those  which  Colonel  Burr  passed 
in  the  practice  of  the  law  in  New  York,  before  he  was  drawn 
into  the  political  vortex !  His  wife  was  full  of  affection  and 
helpfulness,  making  him  the  happiest  of  men  while  he  was  at 
home,  and  superintending,  with  wise  vigilance,  his  office  and 
his  household  when  he  was  abroad.  Her  two  sons  were  stu 
dents  at  law  in  Colonel  Burr's  office,  and  aided  him  most 
essentially  in  the  prosecution  of  his  business.  One  of  them 
frequently  accompanied  him  on  his  journeys  as  an  amanuensis 
and  clerk,  while  the  other  represented  him  in  the  office  in 
New  York.  Little  Theodosia,  a  lovely,  rosy-cheeked  child, 
all  grace  and  intelligence,  was  the  delight  of  the  household. 
The  letters  that  passed  between  Colonel  Burr  and  his  wife, 
after  they  had  been  several  years  married,  read  like  the  pas 
sionate  outpourings  of  Italian  lovers  in  the  first  month  of  their 
betrothal. 

Once,  in  telling  him  of  the  safe  arrival  of  a  packet  of  his 
letters,  she  draws  an  enchanting  picture  of  a  happy  home.  It 
was  just  before  dinner,  she  says,  when  the  letters  arrived,  and 
the  children  were  dispersed  at  various  employments.  "  I  fur 
nished  the  mantelpiece  with  the  contents  of  the  packet.  When 
dinner  was  served  up  they  were  called.  You  know  the  usua 
eagerness  on  this  occasion.  They  were  all  seated  but  Barlow 


AT    THE     NEW     YOEK     BAB.  157 

•vhen  he  espied  the  letters ;  the  surprise,  the  joy,  the  excla 
mations  exceed  description.  The  greatest  stoic  would  have 
forgot  himself.  A  silent  tear  betrayed  me  no  philosopher.  A 
most  joyous  repast  succeeded.  We  talked  of  our  happiness, 
of  our  first  of  blessings,  our  best  of  papas.  I  enjoyed,  my 
Aaron,  the  only  happiness  that  could  accrue  from  your  ab 
sence.  It  was  a  momentary  compensation ;  the  only  one  I 
ever  experienced."  Then  she  tells  him  how  happy  his  letter 
had  made  her.  "  Your  letters,"  she  adds,  "  always  afford  me  a 
singular  satisfaction ;  a  sensation  entirely  my  own ;  this  was 
peculiarly  so.  It  wrought  strangely  on  my  mind  and  spirits. 
My  Aaron,  it  was  replete  with  tenderness !  with  the  most 
lively  affection.  I  read  and  re-read,  till  afraid  I  should  get  it 
by  rote,  and  mingle  it  with  common  ideas.  Profane  the  sacred 
pledge !  No  ;  it  shall  not  be.  I  will  economize  the  boon." 

In  another  letter  she  describes  the  inane  behavior  of  some 
foolish  guests  with  whom  the  family  had  been  bored,  and  tells 
him  how  rejoiced  she  was  to  observe  that  the  children  all  had 
sense  enough  to  despise  them.  "  I  really  believe,  my  dear," 
she  proceeds,  "  that  few  parents  can  boast  of  children  whose 
minds  are  so  prone  to  virtue.  I  see  the  reward  of  our  assi 
duity  with  inexpressible  delight,  with  a  gratitude  few  experi 
ence.  My  Aaron,  they  have  grateful  hearts ;  some  circum 
stances  prove  it,  which  I  shall  relate  to  you  with  singular 
pleasure  at  your  return." 

Another  passage,  acknowledging  the  arrival  of  letters,  is 
very  remarkable.  It  was  written  when  they  had  been  five 
years  married.  "  What  language,"  she  exclaims,  "  can  express 
the  joy,  the  gratitude  of  Theodosia  ?  Stage  after  stage  with 
out  a  line.  Thy  usual  punctuality  gave  room  for  every  fear ; 
various  conjectures  filled  every  breast.  One  of  our  sons  was 
to  have  departed  to-morrow  in  quest  of  the  best  of  friends 
end  fathers.  This  morning  we  waited  the  stage  with  impa- 
dence.  Shrouder  went  frequently  before  it  arrived  ;  at  length 
*eturned — no  letter.  We  were  struck  dumb  with  disappoint 
ment.  Bartow  set  out  to  inquire  who  were  the  passengers ; 
in  a  very  few  minutes  returned  exulting — a  packet  worth  the 
treasures  of  the  universe.  Joy  brightened  every  face ;  all 


t58  LIFE     OF     AARON     BSER. 

expressed  their  past  anxieties;  their  present  happiness.  To 
enjoy  was  the  first  result.  Each  made  choice  of  what  they 
could  best  relish.  Porter,  sweet  wine,  chocolate,  and  sweet 
meats  made  the  most  delightful  repast  that  could  be  shared 
without  thee.  The  servants  were  made  to  feel  their  lord  was 
well)  are  at  this  instant  toasting  his  health  and  bounty ;  while 
the  boys  are  obeying  thy  dear  commands,  thy  Theodosia  fliea 
to  speak  her  heartfelt  joys : — her  Aaron  safe,  mistress  of  the 
heart  she  adores ;  can  she  ask  more  ?  has  Heaven  more  to 
grant  ?" 

Her  letters  are  not  all  in  this  ecstatic  strain.  She  talks  of 
business,  of  books,  of  passing  events.  Catharine  of  Russia 
was  then  filling  the  world  with  the  noise  of  her  exploits.  Mrs. 
Burr  writes :  "  The  Empress  of  Russia  is  as  successful  as  I 
wish  her.  What  a  glorious  figure  will  she  make  on  the  his 
torical  page  !  Can  you  form  an  idea  of  a  more  happy  mortal 
than  she  will  be  when  seated  on  the  throne  of  Constantinople  ? 
How  her  ambition  will  be  gratified  ;  the  opposition  and  threats 
of  Great  Britain  will  increase  her  triumph.  I  wish  I  had  wit 
and  importance  enough  to  write  her  a  congratulatory  letter. 
The  ladies  should  deify  her,  and  consecrate  a  temple  to  her 
praise.  It  is  a  diverting  thought  that  the  mighty  Emperor  of 
the  Turks  should  be  subdued  by  a  woman.  How  enviable 
that  she  alone  should  be  the  avenger  of  her  sex's  wrongs  for 
so  many  ages  past.  She  seems  to  have  awakened  Justice, 
who  appears  to  be  a  sleepy  dame  in  the  cause  of  injured  inno 
cence." 

Colonel  Burr's  replies  to  these  warm  epistles  are  couched 
in  the  language  of  sincere  and  joyous  love.  Before  the  mar- 
riage  there  was  a  certain  peremptoriness  of  tone  in  his  letters  to 
her,  not  usual,  and  not  quite  pleasing,  in  the  letters  of  a  lover. 
His  letters  after  marriage  were  more  tender,  without  being 
Vjss  considerate.  A  few  sentences  will  suffice  to  give  an  idea 
tf  their  usual  manner. 

The  following  is  perfectly  characteristic :  "  This  morning 
came  your  kind,  your  affectionate,  your  truly  welcome  lettei 
)f  Monday  evening.  Where  did  it  loiter  so  long  ?  Nothing 
u  my  absence  is  so  flatterng  to  me  as  your  health  and  cheer 


AT     THE     NEW     YOEK     BAB.  15G 

fulness.  I  then  contemplate  nothing  so  eagerly  as  my  return, 
amuse  myself  with  ideas  of  my  own  happiness,  and  dwell  on 
the  sweet  domestic  joys  which  I  fancy  prepared  for  me.  Noth 
ing  is  so  unfriendly  to  every  species  of  enjoyment  as  melan 
choly.  Gloom,  however  dressed,  however  caused,  is  incom 
patible  with  friendship.  They  can  not  have  place  in  the  mind 
at  the  same  time.  It  is  the  secret,  the  malignant  foe  of  senti 
ment  and  love." 

He  writes  much  respecting  the  children.  "  The  letters  ot 
our  dear  children  are  a  feast.  Every  part  of  them  is  pleasing 
and  interesting.  *  *  *  To  hear  that  they  are  employed, 
that  no  time  is  absolutely  wasted,  is  the  most  flattering  of  any 
thing  that  can  be  told  me  of  them.  It  insures  their  affection, 
or  is  the  best  evidence  of  it.  It  insures,  in  its  consequences, 
every  thing  I  am  ambitious  of  in  them.  Endeavor  to  pre 
serve  regularity  of  hours ;  it  conduces  exceedingly  to  industry. 
*  *  *  My  love  to  the  smiling  little  girl.  I  received  hei 
letter,  but  not  the  pretty  things.  I  continually  plan  my  return 
with  childish  impatience,  and  fancy  a  thousand  incidents  which 
render  it  more  interesting." 

Going  to  Albany  was  a  serious  undertaking  in  those  days- 
From  Albany,  on  one  occasion,  he  writes :  "  The  headache 
with  which  I  left  New  York  grew  so  extreme,  that,  finding  it 
impossible  to  proceed  in  the  stage,  the  view  of  a  vessel  off 
Tarrytown,  under  full  sail  before  the  wind,  tempted  me  to  go 
on  board.  We  reached  West  Point  that  night,  and  lay  there 
at  anchor  near  three  days.  After  a  variety  of  changes  from 
sloop  to  wagon,  from  wagon  to  canoe,  and  from  canoe  to  sloop 
again,  I  reached  this  place  last  evening.  I  was  able,  however, 
to  land  at  Rhinebeck  on  Thursday  evening,  and  there  wrote 
you  a  letter." 

One  of  Colonel  Burr's  letters  to  his  wife,  written  in  the  sev 
enth  year  of  their  married  life,  gives  us  an  idea  of  the  playful 
badinage  for  which  his  conversation  was  remarkable,  but 
which  appears  unfrequently  in  his  letters.  He  had  had  some 
thoughts  of  buying  a  romantic  spot,  called  Fort  Johnson,  de 
sirable,  also,  as  property.  She,  it  appears,  was  not  in  favor  of 
i,he  purchase,  and  advised  him  not  even  to  revisit  the  lovely 


160  LIFE     OP    AARON     BURR. 

scene,  lest  he  should  be  tempted  to  buy  it.  But  he  did  visit 
it,  and  wrote  her  a  very  pleasant,  and  humorous  account  of 
the  result : 

"  O  Theo. !  there  is  the  most  delightful  grove — so  dark 
ened  with   weeping  willows,  that   at  noonday  a  susceptible 
fancy  like  yours  would  mistake  it  for  a  bewitching  moonligh 
evening.     These  sympathizing  willows,  too,  exclude  even  the 
prying  eye  of  curiosity.     Here  no  rude  noise  interrupts  th 
softest  whisper.     Here  no  harsher  sound  is  heard  than  the 
wild  cooings  of  the  gentle  dove,  the  gay  thrasher's  animated 
warbles,  and  the  soft  murmurs  of  the  passing  brook.     Really, 
Theo.,  it  is  charming. 

"  I  should  have  told  you  that  I  am  speaking  of  Fort  John 
son,  where  I  have  spent  a  day.  From  this  amiable  bower 
you  ascend  a  gentle  declivity,  by  a  winding  path,  to  a  cluster 
of  lofty  oaks  and  locusts.  Here  nature  assumes  a  more  august 
appearance.  The  gentle  brook,  which  murmured  soft  below, 
here  bursts  a  cataract.  Here  you  behold  the  stately  Mohawk 
roll  his  majestic  wave  along  the  lofty  Apalachians.  Here  the 
mind  assumes  a  nobler  tone,  and  is  occupied  by  sublimer  ob 
jects.  What  there  was  tenderness,  here  swells  to  rapture.  It 
is  truly  charming. 

"  The  windings  of  this  enchanting  brook  form  a  lovely  isl 
and,  variegated  by  the  most  sportive  hand  of  nature.  This 
shall  be  yours.  We  will  plant  it  with  jasmins  and  wood 
bine,  and  call  it  Cyprus.  It  seems  formed  for  the  residence 
of  tli e  loves  and  the  graces,  and  is  therefore  yours  by  the  best 
of  titles.  It  is  indeed  most  charming. 

"  But  I  could  fill  sheets  in  description  of  the  beauties  of  this 
rom;tntic  place.  We  will  reserve  it  for  the  subject  of  many  an 
amusing  hour.  And  besides  being  little  in  the  habit  of  the 
sublime  or  poetical,  I  grow  already  out  of  breath,  and  begin 
to  filter,  as  you  perceive.  I  can  not,  however,  omit  the  most 
interesting  and  important  circumstance ;  one  which  I  had 
rather  communicate  to  you  in  this  way  than  face  to  face.  I 
know  that  you  was  opposed  to  this  journey  to  Fort  Johnson 
It  is,  therefore,  with  the  greatest  regret  that  I  communicate 


AT     THE     NEW     YOBK     BAR.  161 

the  event ;  aiid  you  are  not  unacquainted  with  my  induce 
ments  to  it. 

"  In  many  things  I  am  indeed  unhappy  in  possessing  a  sin 
gularity  of  taste  ;  particularly  unhappy  when  that  taste  differs 
in  any  thing  from  yours.     But  we  can  not  control  necessity, 
hough  we  often  persuade  ourselves  that  certain  things  are 
ur  choice,  when  in  truth  we  have  been  unavoidably  impelled 
to  them.     In  the  instance  I  am  going  to  relate,  I  shall  not  ex 
amine  whether  I  have  been  governed  by  mere  fancy,  or  by 
motives  of  expediency,  or  by  caprice ;  you  will  probably  say 
the  latter. 

"  My  dear  Theo.,  arm  yourself  with  all  your  fortitude.  I 
know  you  have  much  of  it,  and  I  hope  that  upon  this  occasion 
you  will  not  fail  to  exercise  it.  I  abhor  preface  and  preamble, 
and  don't  know  why  I  have  now  used  it  so  freely.  But  I  am 
well  aware  that  what  I  am  going  to  relate  needs  much  apol 
ogy  from  me,  and  will  need  much  to  you.  If  I  am  the  un 
willing,  the  unfortunate  instrument  of  depriving  you  of  any 
part  of  your  promised  gayety  or  pleasure,  I  hope  you  are  too 
generous  to  aggravate  the  misfortune  by  upbraiding  me  with 
it.  Be  assured  (I  hope  the  assurance  is  needless),  that  what 
ever  diminishes  your  happiness  equally  impairs  mine.  In 
short,  then,  for  I  grow  tedious  both  to  you  and  myself;  and 
to  procrastinate  the  relation  of  disagreeable  events  only  gives 
them  poignancy ;  in  short,  then,  my  dear  Theo.,  the  beauty 
of  this  same  Fort  Johnson,  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  the  com- 
modiousness  and  elegance  of  the  buildings,  the  great  value  of 
the  mills,  and  the  very  inconsiderable  price  which  was  asked 
for  the  whole,  have  not  induced  me  to  purchase  it,  and  prob 
ably  never  will :  in  the  confidence,  however,  of  meeting  your 
forgiveness.  I  am,  etc.,  etc." 

One  wh<?  reads  this  warm  and  tender  correspondence  re 
ceives  the  impression  that  it  gushed  from  hearts  that  confided 
•n  one  another,  and  that  were  worthy  one  another's  confidence. 
It  was  a  very  happy  family.  Parents,  children,  servants, 
seemed  all  to  have  delighted  in  one  another,  and  to  have  been 
animated  by  a  common  desire  for  the  happiness  of  the  whole 
uircie.  To  his  two  step-sons,  Colonel  Burr  was  liberal  in  the 


102  IIPE     OP     AARON     BURR. 

extreme^  and  took  the  liveliest  possible  interest  in  their  ad« 
vancement.  The  little  Theodosia  was  now  beginning  her  edu 
cation,  every  step  of  which  was  thoughtfully  superintended  by 
her  father.  From  her  earliest  years,  she  began  to  manifest  a 
singular,  almost  morbid  fondness  for  her  father,  who,  on  hi& 
part,  was  resolved  that  she  should  be  peerless  among  the  la 
dies  of  her  time.  Courage  and  fortitude  were  his  darling 
virtues.  He  began  to  teach  his  daughter  these,  at  an  age 
when  most  parents  are  teaching  their  chiMren  effeminacy. 
He  would  encourage  her  to  go  alone  in  the  dark,  to  the  least 
frequented  parts  of  his  large  rambling  house,  and  to  sleep  in 
a  room  by  herself.  He  urged  her  to  restrain  her  cries  when 
she  was  hurt,  and  to  overcome  her  appetite  for  injurious  deli 
cacies.  To  such  an  extent  did  he  carry  discipline  of  this  kind, 
that  visitors  sometimes  received  the  impression  that  he  was  a 
hard,  unloving  father ;  as  people  will  of  those  rare  parents  who 
prefer  to  promote  the  lasting  good  of  their  children,  eveii  At 
the  expense  of  their  present  pleasure.  The  servants  of  the 
family,  most  of  whom  were  slaves,  were  taught  to  read. 

In  these  years,  there  was  not  a  spot  upon  the  brightness  of 
nis  good  name.  A  rising  lawyer,  devoted  to  business,  avoid 
ing  politics,  happy  at  home,  honored  abroad,  welcome  in  the 
most  refined  and  elevated  circles,  and  shining  in  them  with  all 
the  luster  of  a  striking  person,  graceful  manners  and  a  pol 
ished  wit — who  would  have  predicted  for  him  any  thing  but 
a  career  of  still  increasing  brilliancy,  a  whole  life-time  of  hon 
orable  exertion,  and  a  name  that  would  have  been  distinction 
to  all  who  bore,  or  should  inherit  it  ? 

True,  a  discerning  person,  a  man  who  should  have  seen  him 
much,  and  observed  him  closely,  would  have  noted  that  in 
much  of  his  intercourse  with  others,  there  was  a  flavorjof  false- 
hood.  Women  he  always  flattered.  He  did  it  on  principle. 
He  said  their  ruling  passion  was  vanity,  which,  he  always  main 
tained,  was  a  harmless  and  amiable  failing.  He  nattered  them 
with  an  adroitness  seldom  equaled,  contriving  always  to  praise 
those  qualities,  upon  the  fancied  possession  of  which  they  most 
valued  themselves  /  which  is,  of  all  flattery,  the  most  irresisti 
ble.  But  this  habit  wac;by  no  means,  altogether  insincere 


AT    THE     NEW     YOEK     BAR.  163 

arith  Colonel  Burr.  He  really  liked  women,  and  all  their 
lovely  ways,  and  had  a  great  opinion  of  their  taste  and  ca 
pacity.  He  preferred  their  society  to  that  of  men,  at  all  pe 
riods  of  life — which  is  not  a  good  sign.  And  women,  with 
scarcely  one  exception  in  all  his  life,  were  warmly  his  friends — 
which  is  not  an  infallibly  good  sign.  The  men  whom  men 
respect,  the  women  whom  women  approve,  are  the  men  and 
women  who  bless  their  species. 

Burr's  intercourse  with  men,  too,  was  not  always  character 
ized  by  the  heartiness  and  directness  which  are  dear  to  the 
Saxon  heart.  He  succeeded  best  with  young  men  and  with  un 
sophisticated  elderly  gentlemen.  He  had  a  rare  faculty  of  in 
spiring  young  men  with  his  own  ambition,  and  with  his  own 
contempt  of  danger,  luxury,  and  ease.  Many  young  men 
loved  him  almost  with  the  love  of  woman,  and  made  him  their 
model,  and  succeeded  in  copying  his  virtues  and  his  faults. 
He,  on  his  pai  fc,  was  really  attached  to  them,  would  take  in 
finite  pains  to  form  and  advance  them ;  and  succeeded  in  so 
imprinting  his  own  character  on  theirs,  that  their  career  in 
life  was  like  his — glorious  at  the  beginning,  disastrous,  if  not 
disgraceful,  at  the  close. 

The  same  discerning  observer  would  have  lamented  Colonel 
Burr's  carelessness  with  regard  to  money.  He  was  excessively 
given  to  making  presents,  to  making  expensive  additions  to 
his  house  and  grounds.  His  hospitality  was  sometimes  pro 
fuse  in  the  extreme.  Once,  while  a  certain  Major  Prevost 
was  gone  to  England,  his  whole  family  of  young  children 
were  entertained  at  Colonel  Burr's  house.  There  was  not 
that  instinctive  counting  of  the  cost  which  marks  the  character 
destined  to  live  and  die  in  prosperity.  And,  still  worse,  there 
was  not  that  instinctive  shrinking  from  debt,  that  caution  not 
to  incur  obligations  respecting  the  punctual  discharge  of  which 
there  is  any  reasonable  doubt,  which  indicates  the  entirely 
honest  man.  At  this  period,  however,  this  cardinal  fault  had 
not  exhibited  itself  to  a  degree  approaching  immorality. 
Profuseness  of  expenditure  was  then,  as  now,  the  prevalent 
rioe  of  New  York,  and  in  conforming  to  the  bad  custom  Col 


164  LIFE    OF   AARON    BURR. 

onel  Burr  did  only  what  most  of  his  neighbors  did.  Hamilton 
himself,  after  fifteen  years'  successful  practice  of  the  law  in  the 
same  courts  with  Burr,  died  scarcely  solvent.* 

*  In  a  former  edition  it  was  stated  that  Ruf  us  King  was  one  of  the  public 
men  of  that  day  who  mismanaged  their  private  interests.  This  was  an 
error.  I  learn  that  Mr.  King,  eminently  faithful  as  he  was  to  the  public 
interests  in  the  various  high  offices  which  he  filled,  was  a  remarkably  pru 
dent  manager  of  his  private  fortune.  After  a  lifetime  of  generous  ex 
penditure,  he  left  a  considerable  estate  to  his  children. 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE   NEW   TORE    POLITICIAN. 

fn  SAPIDITY  OF  HIS  RISE   IK  POLITICS  — MEMBER  OF  THE  STATS  LEGIBLATTTDS  ~ 
OPPOSES  TUB  MECHANICS'  BILL— VOTES  FOB  THB  ABOLITION  OF  SLAVERY  — PA*- 

TIES  AFTER  THB  PEACE— THE  GREAT  FAMILIES  OF  THE   STATE— "  BlTBR'B  MYRMIDONS* 

—  THE  RATIFICATION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION— BITER'S  EARLY  MOVEMENTS  IN  Pounci 

—  APPOINTED  ATTORNEY-GENERAL  OF  THE  STATE  — His  EEPORT  ON  THE  REVOLU 
TIONARY  CLAIMS  — SALB  OF  THB  STATE  LANDS  —  ELECTED  TO  THB  SENATB  OF  THB 
UNITED  STATES. 

COLONEL  BURR'S  rise  to  eminence  in  the  political  world 
was  more  rapid  than  that  of  any  other  man  who  has  played  a 
conspicuous  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  United  States.  Over  the 
heads  of  tried  and  able  politicians,  in  a  State  where  leading 
families  had,  for  a  century,  nearly  monopolized  the  offices  of 
honor  and  emolument,  he  was  advanced,  in  four  years  after 
fairly  entering  the  political  arena,  from  a  private  station,  first 
to  the  highest  honor  of  the  bar,  next,  to  a  seat  in  the  national 
councils,  and  then,  to  a  competition  with  Washington,  Adams, 
Jefferson,  and  Clinton  for  the  presidency  itself.  This  point 
he  reached  when  he  was  but  thirty-six  years  of  age,  without 
having  originated  any  political  idea  or  measure,  without  being 
fully  committed  to  either  of  the  two  leading  parties. 

To  his  cotemporaries,  no  less  than  to  recent  writers  of 
political  history,  the  suddenness  of  his  elevation  was  an  enig 
ma.  John  Adams  thought  it  was  owing  to  the  prestige  of 
his  father's  and  grandfather's  name.  Hamilton  attributed  it 
to  Burr's  unequaled  wire-pulling.  Some  thought  it  was  his 
military  reputation.  Others  called  it  luck.  His  own  circle 
of  friends  regarded  his  elevation  as  the  legitimate  result  of  a 
superiority  to  most  of  his  rivals  in  knowledge,  culture,  and 
talents.  No  doubt  all  of  these  were  causes  of  his  success. 
Perhaps  some  of  the  mystery  will  vanish  before  a  concise 
itatement  of  his  political  career. 


166  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

Late  in  the  autumn  of  1783,  Colonel  Burr,  as  we  have  seen 
became  a  resident  of  the  city  of  New  York.  In  the  spring 
of  1784  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  legislature,  and  OP 
the  12th  of  October  following,  took  his  seat.  During  the  first 
session,  he  was  not  a  diligent,  nor,  as  it  would  seem,  a  promi 
nent  member;  attending  only  when  important  votes  were 
taken,  and  leaving  the  burden  of  legilsation  to  members  of 
more  leisure  than  himself.  But,  at  the  second  session,  he  tools 
a  stand  on  a  certain  bill  which  made  him  at  once  the  most 
conspicuous  of  the  members,  and  an  object,  out  of  doors,  of 
equal  hatred  and  admiration. 

A  company  of  mechanics  applied  for  an  act  of  incorpora 
tion,  by  which  they  would  be  enabled  to  hold  land  to  an  un 
limited  extent,  and  to  wield  power  which,  Colonel  Burr 
thought,  would  finally  endanger  the  independence  of  the  city 
government.  A  great  and  wealthy  GUILD,  unless  limits  were 
fixed  to  its  growth  and  authority,  would  arise,  he  said,  to 
direct  the  votes  of  the  most  numerous  class  in  the  community, 
and  thus  to  overawe  the  government.  Alone,  among  the 
members  frfcm  the  city,  he  opposed  this  bill.  .  His  course  cre 
ated  an  intense  excitement  among  the  mechanics,  some  of 
whom  threatened  violence  against  his  person  and  property, 
thus  creating  the  circumstances  in  which,  of  all  others,  Aaron 
Burr  was  most  fitted  to  shine.  To  danger  he  was  constitu 
tionally  insensible.  He  stood  firm  in  his  opposition.  When 
his  friends  offered  to  protect  his  house  from  assault,  he  adroitly 
said  that  he  had  no  fear  of  violence  from  men  of  the  Rev 
olution,  who  had  just  made  such  sacrifices  to  conquer  the 
right  of  governing  themselves;  and  that,  whatever  might 
occur,  he  was  able  and  prepared  to  protect  himself.  The  bill 
passed ;  but  was  returned  from  the  Council  of  Revision  with 
Colonel  Burr's  objections,  and  was,  therefore,  lost.  The  citi 
zens  generally  sided  with  Burr,  and  the  mechanics  themselves, 
it  is  said,  were,  at  least,  so  far  convinced  of  the  correctness  oi 
his  views  as  never  to  renew  the  application. 

Conduct  like  this,  in  a  young  and  rising  lawyer,  populai 
already  for  his  gallantry  as  a  soldier,  could  not  bat  add  to  hi* 
reputation  for  courage,  a  general  confidence  in  his  firmness  an*? 


THE  N  EW    YORK     POLITICIAN.  167 

Address.  It  was  calculated  to  win  him  friends  among  his  legis 
lative  associates,  among  the  propertied  citizens,  and  among 
the  very  class  whose  wishes  he  had  opposed,  who  are  not  apt 
to  like  a  man  the  less  for  boldly  and  courteously  setting  them 
right.  It  must  also  be  borne  in  mind  that  a  town  of  thirty 
thousand  inhabitants  is  a  theater  upon  which  a  shining  action 
does  not  escape  observation. 

At  the  same  session,  a  bill  was  introduced  into  the  legisla 
ture  for  the  gradual  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  State.  Burr 
was  in  favor  of  a  speedier  extinction  of  the  anomaly,  and  moved 
to  amend  the  bill  so  as  to  totally  abolish  slavery  after  a  certain 
day.  His  amendment  having  been  rejected,  he  voted  for  the 
original  bill,  which  was  lost. 

Then  followed  three  years  of  political  calm  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  during  which  the  name  of  Aaron  Burr  does  not 
appear  in  politics. 

During  the  period  that  elapsed  between  the  conclusion  of 
peace  in  1783,  and  the  formation  of  the  Constitution  in  1787, 
the  question  upon  which  parties  in  this  State  were  divided 
was  this  :  What  are  the  rights  of  the  Tories  in  this  common 
wealth  ?  Shall  we  Whigs,  triumphant  over  them  after  a  seven 
years'  contest,  regard  them  as  defeated  enemies  or  as  mis 
taken  fellow-citizens?  Shall  the  animosities  and  disabilities 
of  the  war  be  kept  up  and  cherished,  or  shall  the  victors  mag 
nanimously  let  bygones  be  bygones  ? 

In  this  controversy,  there  were  three  parties. 

First,  the  Tories  themselves,  some  of  whom  were  blind 
enough  to  think  that  England,  after  breathing  awhile,  would 
attempt,  and  successfully  too,  to  regain  her  colonies,  the  lost 
jewels  of  her  diadem.  Others,  less  infatuated,  hoped,  that 
after  the  first  soreness  of  the  war  was  over,  the  Tories  would 
enjoy  in  the  State  the  preeminence  they  had  had  in  the  colony 
Others,  disfranchised  for  their  active  hostility  to  the  Revolu 
tion,  were  humble  suitors  for  a  restoration  to  estates  and  em 
ployment.  All  of  these  were,  of  course,  for  granting  th« 
Tories  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  citizenship. 

Secondly,  the  Whigs,  who  had  borne  the  burdens  and  hard- 
inips  of  the  war ;  many  of  whom  had  lost  fortune,  health,  ro 


168  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BUBB. 

lations,  friends,  in  the  struggle ;  all  of  whom  having  seen  that 
struggle  prolonged  and  embittered  by  Tory  machinations,  had 
learned  to  hate  a  Tory  worse  than  a  British  soldier.  These 
men  were  indignant  at  the  idea  of  conceding  any  thing  to 
Tories.  They  demanded  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  their  triumph 
without  sharing  them  with  the  enemy. 

Thirdly,  between  these  extreme  parties,  there  was,  as  usual, 
a  class  of  people  who  were  in  favor  of  making  some  concessions 
to  the  Tories,  and  of  gradually  restoring  all  who  would  pro 
fess  loyalty  to  the  new  order  of  things,  to  equal  privileges 
with  the  Whigs. 

Colonel  Burr  was  a  Whig  of  the  decided  school,  one  of 
those  who  were  called  violent  Whigs.  This  was  the  popular 
party  of  that  day.  That  he  took  an  open  and  active  part  in 
the  discussion  of  the  various  Whig  and  Tory  questions,  does 
not  appear,  but  he  was  classed  with  the  extreme  Whigst,  and 
acted  afterward,  and  on  other  questions,  with  that  party. 

As  there  were  three  parties,  so  there  were  three  groups  of 
leading  partizans. 

There  were,  first,  the  Clintons,  of  whom  George  Clinton, 
Governor  of  the  State,  was  the  important  person.  He  was  the 
undisputed  leader  of  the  popular  party.  He  had  been  gov 
ernor  since  1777,  and  was  re-elected,  every  other  year,,  to  that 
office,  for  eighteen  years.  The  Clintons,  as  a  family,  were  not, 
at  this  time,  either  numerous  or  rich ;  but  George  Clinton,  an 
able,  tough,  wary,  self-willed  man,  wielding,  with  unusual  tact, 
the  entire  patronage  of  the  State,  and  dear  to  the  affections  of 
the  great  mass  of  the  people,  is  an  imposing  figure  in  the  pol 
itics  of  the  time,  and  must  ever  be  regarded  as  the  Chief  Man 
of  the  State  of  New  York,  during  the  earlier  years  of  its  in 
dependent  existence.  De  Witt  Clinton,  a  nephew  of  the  gov 
ernor,  was  a  student  in  Columbia  College  at  this  time.  The 
Clintons  were  all  strong  characters,  retaining  something  of  the 
fiery,  obstinate,  north-of-Ireland  disposition  which  their  ances- 
ior  brought  with  him  from  over  the  sea,  in  1719.  They  were 
thorough  Whigs,  all  of  them,  though,  it  was  said,  the  founder 
of  the  family  was  a  royalist  in  the  time  of  Charles  I.,  and  fled 
to  Ireland  to  avoid  the  enmity  of  the  Roundheads. 


THE     NEW     YORK     POLITICIAN.  169 

Then  there  were  the  Schuylers,  with  General  Schuyler  at 
Jieir  head,  and  Alexander  Hamilton,  his  son-in-law,  for  orna 
ment  and  champion.  General  Schuyler  was  formed  for  un 
popularity.  Rich,  of  an  imposing  presence,  austere  in  man 
ners,  a  very  honest,  worthy  man,  he  had  no  real  sympathy 
with  the  age  and  country  in  which  he  lived.  No  more  had 
Hamilton,  as  Hamilton  well  knew,  and  bitterly  confessed.  But 
not  to  anticipate,  it  is  enough  here  to  say  that  the  Schuyler 
party,  as  used  and  led  by  Alexander  Hamilton,  was  the  one 
most  directly  opposed  to  the  Clintons.  General  Schuyler  had 
been  a  competitor  with  George  Clinton  for  the  governorship 
in  1777,  and  his  disappointment,  it  was  thought,  was  still 
very  fresh  in  the  general's  recollection. 

But  there  was  a  third  family  in  the  State,  which,  merely  as 
a  family,  was  more  important  than  the  Clintons  or  Schuylers. 
This  was  the  Livingston  family — rich,  numerous,  and  influen 
tial.  At  the  time  we  are  now  considering,  there  were  nine 
members  of  this  family  in  public  life — politicians,  judges,  cler 
gymen,  lawyers — of  whom  several  were  of  national  celebrity. 
And  besides  those  who  bore  the  name  of  Livingston,  there 
were  distinguished  and  aspiring  men  who  had  married  daugh 
ters  of  the  family.  The  Livingstons  had  been  rooted  in  the 
State  for  more  than  a  hundred  years,  and  the  circle  of  their 
connections  embraced  a  great  proportion  of  the  leading  peo 
ple.  Robert  R.  Livingston,  a  member  of  Congress  in  1776, 
one  of  the  committee  who  drew  up  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence,  a  conspicuous  framer  of  the  Constitution,  afterward 
its  stanch  supporter,  in  later  years  the  patron  of  Robert  Ful 
ton,  and  therefore  immortal,  was  at  this  period  the  head  and 
^ride  of  the  Livingston  family. 

These  were  the  three  families.  The  Clintons  had  power 
the  Livingstons  had  numbers,  the  Schuylers  had  Hamilton 
Neither  of  the  three  was  strong  enough  to  overcome  the 
other  two  united,  and  any  two  united  could  triumph  over  the 
third. 

Such  statements  as  these  must,  of  course,  be  taken  with 
proper  allowance.  A  thousand  influences  enter  into  politics, 
ind  general  statements  are  only  outline  truths.  Nevertheless, 

8 


170  LIFE     OP     AAEON     BURR. 

in  a  State  where  only  freeholders  have  a  vote,  and  where  there 
are  not  more  than  twelve  01  fourteen  thousand  freeholders,  the 
influence  of  great  families,  if  wielded  by  men  of  force  and  tal 
ent,  will  be,  in  the  long  run,  and  in  great  crises,  controlling 
It  was  so  in  the  State  of  New  York  for  twenty  years  after  the 
Revolution. 

For  some  years  after  coming  to  New  York,  Colonel  Burr 
held  aloof  from  these  factions.  Absorbed  in  the  practice  of 
his  profession  and  the  education  of  his  family,  he  was  not 
reckoned  among  the  politicians.  And  when,  at  length,  he 
entered  the  political  field,  it  was  not  as  an  ally  of  either  of  the 
families,  but  as  an  independent  power  who  profited  by  their 
dissensions,  and  wielded  the  influence  of  two  to  crush  the  more 
obnoxious  third.  He  had  a  party  of  his  own,  that  served  him 
instead  of  family  connections.  Gradually  certain  young  men  of 
the  town,  wTho  had  nothing  to  hope  from  the  ruling  power,  am 
bitious,  like  himself,  were  drawn  into  his  circle,  and  inspired 
with  his  own  energy  and  resolution.  They  were  devoted  to 
their  chief,  of  whose  abilities  they  had  an  extravagant  opinion. 
In  every  quarter,  they  sounded  the  praises  of  the  man  who, 
they  said,  was  the  bravest  soldier,  the  ablest  lawyer,  and  the 
most  accomplished  gentleman  of  his  day ;  endowed  with  equal 
valor  and  prudence  ;  formed  to  shine  in  every  scene,  and  to 
succeed  in  every  enterprise.  Burros  myrmidons,  these  young 
gentlemen  were  styled  by  General  Hamilton.  The  Tenth 
Legion^  they  were  proudly  called  by  Theodosia,  the  daughter 
They  were  not  as  numerous  as  the  young  lady's  expression 
would  imply,  but  they  were  such  efficient  co-workers  with 
their  chief,  that  the  Burrites  formed  a  fourth  party  in  the 
State,  and  were  a  recognized  power  in  it  years  after  the  leader 
had  vanished  from  the  scene.  This  party,  as  far  as  I  can 
ascertain,  was  a  merely  personal  one ;  its  objects,  victory  and 
glory.  Consisting  at  first  of  half  a  dozen  of  Burr's  personal 
friends,  it  grew  in  numbers  with  his  advancement,  until,  as 
just  intimated,  it  became  a  formidable  "  wing"  of  the  great 
Republican  party. 

During  the  summer  of  1787,  all  minds  were  fixed  upon  th« 
»roceedings  of  the  convention  that  was  forming  the  Constitu 


THE     NEW     TOctBl     POLITICIAN.  17l 

tion  under  which  we  now  live.  The  science  of  government 
never  had  such  a  thorough  discussion  as  it  then  received  at  the 
hands  of  editors,  pamphleteers,  and  way-side  politicians.  Shall 
we  have  a  strong  and  splendid  central  government,  reducing 
sovereign  States  to  the  rank  of  departments ;  or  shall  these 
sovereign  States  merely  form  a  federal  Union,  for  mutual  de 
fense  ?  That  was  the  question.  In  September,  the  Constitu 
tion,  which  was  a  compromise  between  the  two  systems,  and 
which,  therefore,  was  quite  satisfactory  to  nobody,  was  sub 
mitted  to  the  States  for  each  to  ratify  or  reject.  How  eagerly 
and  how  long,  with  what  ability  and  learning,  the  question  of 
ratification  or  rejection  was  discussed  in  this  State,  need  not 
be  recounted  here.  Governor  Clinton,  proud  of  the  State  he 
governed,  and  foreseeing  its  destiny,  thought  it  was  required 
by  the  new  Constitution  to  concede  too  much  to  the  central 
authority,  and  to  throw  away  the  magnificent  advantages  of 
its  position.  He  led  the  party  who  opposed  ratification.  ^ 
Hamilton,  who  may  almost  be  called  the  author  of  the.  jCon- 
stitution,  was  of  course  its  ablest  cnampionT Jay,  Robert  R. 
Livingston,  General  Schuyler,  the  Van  Rensseluers,  were  all 
strenuous  in  its  support,  and  it  was  the  union  of  the  Living 
ston  influence  with  the  Schuyler,  on  this  great  question,  that 
added  New  York  to  the  States  that  had  accepted  the  Con 
stitution.  William  Livingston,  the  reader  is  aware,  was  one 
of  the  framers  of  the  instrument. 

It  is  a  significant  fact  that  there  should  be  no  trace  of  Aaron 
Burr  in  a  controversy  so  interesting  and  so  vital  as  this.  Mr. 
Davis  says  he  was  "  neutral"  on  the  question.  Hamilton  says 
nis  "conduct  was  equivocal."  He  was  in  no  position  that 
obliged  him  publicly  to  espouse  either  side  of  the  question, 
and  his  was  not  the  kind  of  intellect  to  shine  in  the  pages  of 
*'  The  Federalist."  His  letters  show,  that  while  this  subject  wag 
in  agitation,  he  was  immersed  in  law  business.  In  common 
with  most  of  the  leading  men  of  that  time,  including  the 
framers  of  the  Constitution,  and  particularly  Hamilton,  he  had 
A  low  opinion  of  the  merits  of  the  new  system,  as  a  piece  of 
Political  machinery.  Conversing  with  a  gentleman  on  the  sub- 
ject,  toward  the  dose  of  his  life,  he  used  language  like  this 


172  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BUEE. 

M  When  the  Constitution  was  first  framed,"  said  he,  "  I  pre 
dicted  that  it  would  not  last  fifty  years.  I  was  mistaken.  It 
will  evidently  last  longer  than  that.  But  I  was  mistaken  only 
in  point  of  time.  The  crash  will  come^  but  not  quite  as  soon 
as  I  thought." 

Though  the  New  York  Convention  accepted  the  Constitu 
tion  by  a  majority  of  only  three  members,  in  a  House  of  fifty  - 
seven,  yet,  after  the  question  was  disposed  of,  there  was  a 
powerful  reaction  in  favor  of  the  Federal  party.  The  feeling 
was  general  that  the  Constitution  must  be  supported,  and 
fairly  tried.  In  the  city,  the  anti-Federalists,  as  a  party,  were 
almost  annihilated,  and  it  was  many  a  year  before  they  gained 
the  ascendancy. 

It  was  in  the  spring  of  1788,  when  the  Federal  majority  in 
the  city  was  overwhelming,  and  in  the  State  considerable,  that 
Colonel  Burr  first  appears  in  political  history  as  the  candidate 
of  the  anti-Federal  party.  On  the  walls  of  the  city,  in  the 
month  of  April,  appeared  a  handbill  announcing  to  the  shat 
tered  remnant  of  the  popular  party,  that 

"THE  SONS  OF  LIBERTY,  WHO  ABE  AGAIN  CALLED  UPON 
TO  CONTEND  WITH  THE  SHELTERED  ALIENS,  WHO  HAVE,  BY  THE 
COURTESY  OF  OUE  OWN  COUNTRY,  BEEN  PERMITTED  TO  REMAIN 
AMONG  US,  WILL  GIVE  THEIR  SUPPORT  TO  THE  FOLLOWING 
TICKET:  WILLIAM  DEMING,  MELANCTHON  SMITH,  MARIMUS 

WlLLET,  AND  AARON  BuRR." 

With  this  nomination,  I  presume,  Colonel  Burr  had  little  to 
do.  The  ticket  was  probably  run  merely  to  keep  the  party 
together.  Yet,  as  after  making  every  allowance  that  even 
charity  requires,  Colonel  Burr's  course  as  a  politician  can  not 
be  praised,  it  is  only  fair  to  bear  in  mind  that  when  the  popu- 
lar  party  seemed  hopelessly  crushed,  was  the  time  when  he 
first  allowed  his  name  to  be  identified  with  it. 

The  next  year,  1789,  there  was  an  election  for  governor, 
and  the  victorious  Federalists,  under  Hamilton,  had  hopes  of 
ouetinsj  Governor  Clinton,  who  was  a  candidate  for  reelection, 
Clinton,  however,  was  so  rooted  in  the  aflections  of  the  peo 
Die,  that  Hamilton  despaired  of  electing  an  opposition  candv 
late  bv  direct  means.  He  therefore  resorted  to  a  maneuver 


THE    NEW     YORK     POLITICIAN.  173 

irhich  he  would  have  eloquently  denounced  if  it  had  been  d* 
vised  by  Burr.  Chief  Justice  Morris,  it  was  generally  sup 
posed  and  desired,  would  have  been  the  regular  Federa- 
candidate.  But  six  weeks  before  the  election,  Hamiltor 
called  a  meeting  in  New  York  of  moderate  men  of  both 
)arties,  who  nominated,  as  the  opposing  candidate,  Judge 
Yates,  an  anti-Federalist,  but  a  man,  it  was  thought,  who  would 
be  supported  by  enough  Federalists  to  accomplish  Hamilton's 
object,  the  downfall  of  Clinton.  Judge  Yates  was  one  oi 
Burr's  most  intimate  friends.  When  Colonel  Burr  was  at 
Albany  in  1782,  endeavoring  to  conquer  the  opposition  of  the 
lawyers  to  his  premature,  irregular  admission  to  the  bar 
Judge  Yates  rendered  him  essential  service,  which  laid  the 
foundation  of  a  lasting  and  cordial  friendship  between  them. 
On  every  political  question  since,  Colonel  Burr  and  Judge 
Yates  had  felt  and  acted  together.  With  Governor  Clinton 
he  had  no  particular  relations.  In  this  movement,  therefore. 
to  elevate  his  old  and  venerated  friend,  Colonel  Burr  joined, 
and  his  name  appears,  with  that  of  Hamilton,  William  Duer 
and  Robert  Troup,  as  one  of  the  committee  of  correspondence 
appointed  to  promote  the  object.  Yates  accepted,  and  Morris 
was  induced  to  decline  the  nomination.  The  Federalists  is 
sued  an  address,  in  which  with  singular  absurdity,  they  avo\* 
a  preference  for  Morris,  but  a  determination  to  vote  for  Yates, 
as  Yates  was  the  only  man  to  beat  Clinton  with.  The  trick 
nearly  succeeded.  Clinton  received  6,391  votes ;  Yates, 
5,962  :  majority  for  Clinton,  429. 

This  is  the  only  instance  in  which  Hamilton  and  Burr  ever 
acted  in  politics  together.  There  is  a  tendency  in  human  na 
ture  to  heap  obloquy  upon  a  public  man  who  is  irretrievably 
down  /  and,  accordingly,  I  find  writers,  who  give  an  account 
of  this  election,  attributing  political  inconsistency  and  maneu 
vering  to  Burr.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  Hamilton  who  wai 
inconsistent,  and  who  maneuvered.  As  yet  Burr  was  no  poli 
tician.  Nothing  was  more  natural  or  more  proper  than  hi? 
lupport  of  an  old  friend,  with  whom  he  was  in  political  a<x 
lord, 

Governor  Clinton  was  evidently  of  that  opinion,  for,  foui 


LIFE     OP     AARON     BURP 


months  after  the  election,  he  offered  Burr  the 


eralship  of  the  State.  This  was  a  tribute  to  the  lawyer  merely. 
The  office  was  important  and  lucrative,  but  it  was  not  given, 
at  that  day,  as  a  matter  of  course,  to  a  partizan.  For  some 
days  after  the  offer  was  made,  Colonel  Burr  hesitated  to  accept 
it,  not  from  any  dislike  to  the  office,  as  he  informed  the  gov 
ernor,  but  from  other  circumstances  known  to  both,  and  there 
fore  not  mentioned.  September  25th  he  signified  his  wil 
lingness  to  accept,  and  on  the  27th  he  was  appointed.  It  is 
conceded,  I  believe,  by  every  one,  that  during  the  two  years 
that  Colonel  Burr  held  this  office,  its  duties  were  performed 
by  him  with  punctilious  correctness  and  efficiency. 

In  March,  1790,  the  Attorney-General  was  named  one  ot 
three  commissioners,  upon  whom  the  legislature  devolved  the 
duty  of  classifying  and  deciding  upon  the  claims  of  individuals 
for  services  rendered  and  losses  sustained  in  the  revolutionary 
war.  These  claimants  were  numberless.  Some  of  them  had 
served  in  the  State  militia,  some  in  the  Continental  army,  and 
some  in  both.  Others  had  supplied  provisions  to  both  de 
scriptions  of  troops.  Many  had  had  their  estates  overrun, 
their  houses  pillaged  or  burnt  by  the  foe.  Some  of  the  claims 
were  for  many  thousands  of  dollars,  others  for  the  value  of  a 
few  bushels  of  oats  or  tons  of  hay.  Of  course,  in  the  throng 
of  rightful  claimaints  mingled  not  a  few  rogues,  whose  ac 
counts  needed  the  closest  scrutiny.  And  when  the  justice  of 
a  claim  was  established,  it  was  often  a  difficult  point  to  decide 
whether  it  was  the  general  government,  or  the  State  govern 
ment  that  ought  to  discharge  it.  In  many  cases  both  seemed 
liable,  and  the  commissioners  had  to  decide  in  what  propor 
tion.  The  investigation  was  continued  at  intervals  for  the 
period  of  two  years,  at  the  expiration  of  which  the  Attorney- 
General  drew  up  a  report,  which  was  presented  to  the  legisla 
ture,  and  accepted  by  that  body  without  opposition  or  amend 
ment.  The  report  was  chiefly  remarkable  for  its  clear  ana 
concise  statement  of  the  principles  upon  which  claims  had 
been  allowed,  rejected,  or  excluded  from  consideration.  Thost 
principles  were  made  the  basis  of  all  future  settlements  with 
*  revolutionary  creditors  in  this  State,  and  Colonel  Burr  gainea 


THE     NEW     YORK     POLITICIAN.  175 

much  in  reputation  from  the  ability  with  which  they  were  de 
veloped  in  the  report. 

The  Attorney-General  in  1791  was  appointed  to  serve  cm 
another  commission  of  great  importance,  the  issue  of  which 
was  not  productive  of  reputation  to  any  one. 

The  State,  at  this  time,  was  in  pressing  need  of  money,  and 
exceedingly  rich  in  land.  At  the  close  of  the  war,  there  were 
seven  millions  of  acres  of  land  belonging  to  the  State,  that 
were  still  wild  and  waste.  The  magnificient  and  productive 
region  now  known  as  western  New  York,  the  garden  of  the 
northern  States,  was  then  a  wilderness  inhabited  by  Indians, 
and  traversed  only  by  Indian  trails.  Indeed  the  entire  State  ot 
New  York,  except  its  southern  extremity  and  the  shores  of  the 
Hudson  river,  was  in  the  same  primeval  condition.  It  was 
one  of  the  great  questions  of  State  policy,  from  1783  to  1791, 
how  to  get  tfye  wild  lands  sold  and  settled.  Various  laws  had 
been  passed  to  facilitate  the  object,  but  it  had  progressed  with 
provoking  slowness,  until,  in  1791,  the  State  treasury  being  in 
extreme  need  of  replenishment,  and  a  whole  army  of  creditors 
waiting  only  the  award  of  the  commissioners  to  present  and 
press  their  claims,  it  was  resolved  to  force  the  lands  to  a  sale. 
To  this  end,  the  legislature,  by  a  vote  nearly  or  quite  unan 
imous,  authorized  the  Commissioners  of  the  Land  Office  to 
"  dispose  of  any  of  the  waste  and  unappropriated  lands  in  the 
State,  in  such  parcels,  on  such  terms,  and  in  such  manner,  as 
they  shall  judge  most  conducive  to  the  interests  of  the  State." 
Powers  more  unlimited  were  never  confided  to  any  body  of 
men.  The  Commissioners  were,  the  Governor,  the  Secre 
tary  of  State,  the  Attorney-General,  the  Treasurer,  and  the 
Auditor. 

Then  followed  some  of  the  most  extraordinary  land  sales 
that  even  this  richly-landed  continent  has  known.  In  the 
course  of  the  summer,  the  Commissioners  sold  the  enormous 
quantity  of  five  and  a  half  millions  of  acres,  at  an  average 
price  of  about  eighteen  cents  per  acre.  It  was  sold  in  pro 
digious  tracts,  the  number  of  purchasers  not  exceeding  the 
number  of  millions  of  acres  disposed  of.  One  tract  brought 
shillings  an  acre  another,  two  shillings ;  another,  one 


£76  LIFE     OF     AABON     BURR. 

ihilling.  The  most  astounding  sale  of  all  was  one  to  Alex 
ander  McComb  of  more  than  three  million  six  hundred  thou 
sand  acres,  at  the  seemingly  ridiculous  price  of  eight  pence 
per  acre,  to  be  paid  in  five  annual  installments !  The  sum  re. 
alized  by  all  the  sales  was  a  million  and  thirty  thousand  dol 
lars,  not  more  than  half  of  which  was  immediately  available. 

When  these  sales  were  made  public  a  great  outcry  arose  in 
all  parts  of  the  State,  and  resolutions  of  censure  were  moved 
in  the  legislature.  It  was  everywhere  charged  that  Governor 
Clinton  had  a  personal  interest  in  the  Macomb  purchase. 
Colonel  Burr,  it  was  shown,  had  had  no  part  in  effecting  the 
sales,  as  he  was  absent  on  official  duty  when  they  had  taken 
place.  At  the  time,  therefore,  he  escaped  the  odium  of  the 
transaction,  and  it  was  reserved  for  subsequent  periods  of 
political  contention  to  connect  his  name  with  them.  The  Com 
missioners  replied,  first,  by  denying,  point-blank,  that  any  of 
their  number  had  the  slightest  personal  interest  ineither  of  the 
sales ;  which  was,  unquestionably,  the  fact.  They  said,  too, 
what  no  one  could  deny,  that  they  had  not  transcended  the 
power  confided  to  them  by  the  legislature  ;  that  no  better 
terms  could  be  obtained  for  the  lands  ;  and  that  the  chief  ob 
ject  of  the  State  in  selling  was  to  bring  private  interest  to 
bear  upon  getting  the  lands  sold  to  actual  settlers.  The  Com 
missioners  were,  at  length,  completely  exonerated,  and  the 
sales  which  they  made  really  had  the  effect  of  hastening  the 
settlement  of  the  lands.  Experience,  I  believe,  has  proved 
that  if  there  must  be  speculation  in  wild  lands,  the  people's 
own  domain,  it  is  a  less  evil  to  sell  it  in  tracts  too  large  to  be 
retained  in  the  hands  of  the  speculator,  than  in  quantities 
which  are  likely  to  be  held  by  individuals  till  the  toil  of  sur 
rounding  settlers  has  enhanced  their  value. 

In  January,  1791,  occurred  what  is  regarded  as  the  great 
mystery  of  Colonel  Burr's  political  career.  He  was  elected  to 
represent  the  State  of  New  York  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States.  Rufus  King  and  Philip  Schuyler  were  the  first  Uni 
ted  States  Senators  chosen  by  the  State  of  New  York  ;  and,  as 
General  Schuyler  had  drawn  the  short  term,  his  seat  would 
oeo:me  vacant  on  the  4th  of  March,  1791.  He  was  a  candi 


THE    NEW     YOBK     POLITICIAN.  175 

date  foi  i  ejection.  Beside  being  in  actual  possession  of  the 
seat,  he  had  the  advantage  of  old  renown,  influential  connec 
tions,  and  the  powerful  aid  of  Hamilton,  now  the  confidential 
man  of  Washington's  administration,  and  in  the  full  tide  of  his 
great  financial  measures.  Above  all,  the  Federalists  had  a 
majority  in  the  legislature  which  was  to  elect  the  Senator,  and 
Schuyler  was  the  most  federal  of  Federalists.  Aaron  Burr  was 
a  young  man  of  thirty-five,  not  known  in  national  politics,  with 
no  claims  upon  either  party,  and  with  few  advantages  which 
were  not  personal.  Yet,  upon  General  Schuyler's  nomination, 
he  was  at  once,  and  decisively,  rejected ;  and,  immediately 
after,  when  Aaron  Burr  was  proposed,  he  was,  upon  the  first 
vote,  in  both  Houses,  elected.  Sixteen  Senators  voted,  of 
whom  twelve  voted  for  Burr.  In  the  Assembly,  Burr's  ma 
jority  was  five. 

The  newspapers  of.  the  time  throw  no  light  upon  the  causes 
of  Burr's  election,  They  record  the  vote,  without  a  word 
of  comment.  No  cotemporary  record  or  memoir  explains  U 
JVIr.  Davis  says  nothing  about  it.  In  the  pamphlet  war  of 
1804,  Burr's  vituperators  frequently  taunt  him  with  having 
gained  this  great  step  without  having  done  any  service  enti 
tling  him  to  it,  but  they  do  not  as  much  as  hint  at  the  means 
by  which  it  was  gained.  Of  recent  historians,  the  amiable  and 
fair-minded  Dr.  Hammond  (History  of  Political  Parties  in  the 
State  of  New  York)  attributes  Burr's  success  to  his  supposed 
moderation  in  politics,  to  his  reputation  as  an  orator,  and  to 
the  contrast  his  fascinating  manners  presented  to  Schuyler's 
austerity.  He  adds  that  Morgan  Lewis,  a  connection  of  the 
Livingstons,  succeeded  Burr  as  Attorney-General,  and  suggests 
that  this  may  have  been  "foreseen"  at  the  time  of  the  elec 
tion.  Mr.  Hildreth  conjectures  that  the  election  of  Burr  to 
the  Senate  may  have  been  a  bid  from  the  Federalists  to  win 
nim  over  to  their  side  !  But  would  the  Federalists,  as  a  party, 
have  defeated  Hamilton's  father-in-law  for  such  an  object  ? 

The  only  glimmer  of  light  thrown  on  the  affair  in  the  cor 
respondence  of  the  period,  is  shed  by  the  following  passage  of 
\  letter  from  Schuyler  to  Hamilton,  dated  January  29th,  1792  : 
'•*  As  no  good,"  says  the  genera^  "  could  possibly  result  from 

8* 


l78  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BUKB. 

evincing  any  resentment  to  Mr.  Burr  for  the  part  he  took  last 
winter  (when  the  election  for  Senator  occurred),  I  have  on 
every  occasion  behaved  toward  him  as  if  he  had  not  been  the 
principal  in  the  business."  What  business  ?  If  the  reference 
is  to  the  election,  we  learn  from  it  that  General  Schuyler  at 
tributed  his  defeat  to  Burr's  personal  exertions ;  and  if  the 
general  was  correct  in  his  supposition,  then  we  may  conjecture 
that,  in  some  mysterious  way,  Colonel  Burr  contrived  to  unite 
in  his  own  support  the  influence  of  the  Clintons  and  the  Liv 
ingstons.  The  Livingstons,  as  a  family,  it  is  now  well  known, 
resented  the  splendid  elevation  of  the  young  adventurer, 
Alexander  Hamilton,  a  man  not  native  to  the  soil;  while 
Robert  R.  Livingston,  the  head  of  their  ancient  house,  a 
statesman  distinguished  in  the  country's  annals  while  yet 
Hamilton  was  a  merchant's  clerk  in  the  West  Indies,  was  suf 
fered  to  languish  in  obscurity.  Burr  played  upon  this  string 
a  few  years  later  with  great  effect.  It  may  have  been  touched 
in  1791. 

Apart  from  these  impenetrabilities,  there  is  no  difficulty  in 
plausibly  accounting  for  Colonel  Burr's  election  to  the  Senate. 
General  Schuyler  was  personally  unacceptable.  He  was  no 
speaker.  He  was  a  thorough-going  partizan,  and  bore  the 
scars  of  former  political  contests.  He  was  identified  with 
Hamilton,  whose  financial  system  was  rending  the  nation  into 
factions,  and  whose  towering  eminence  dwarfed  so  many  of 
his  cotemporaries.  Against  Schuyler  a  direct  party  oppo 
sition  would  probably  have  failed.  Burr  was  a  new  man, 
which  is,  in  politics,  often  an  overwhelming  advantage.  He 
was  thought  to  be  a  moderate  man,  who  would  represent  the 
State  ably,  fairly,  and  faithfully.  He  was  an  educated  man, 
in  a  community  where  a  collegiate  education  was  a  valuable 
distinction,  and  one  of  the  rarest.  He  stood  before  the  people 
in  the  untarnished  luster  of  powers  whose  speciality  it  was  to 
shine.  Except  Hamilton,  he  was  thought  to  be  the  finest  or- 
*tor  in  the  State,  as  well  as  a  man  of  peculiarly  effective  tact, 
He  was  master  of  an  address  and  manner  which  could  be  im 
pressive  or  pleasing  as  the  occasion  required.  Some  members 
v  ^re,  doubtless,  proud  to  send  to  Philadelphia  so  fine  a  ger 


THE     NEW     YORK     POL1TICIAH,  Itfi 

jeman  as  Colonel  Burr;  for,  in  that  day,  more  than  LOW, 
manner  was  power.  I  have  conversed  with  men  who  were 
captivated  with  the  presence  and  style  of  the  man  when  he 
was  nearly  fourscore,  and  had  both  legs  in  the  grave.  What 
power,  then,  there  must  have  been  in  his  presence  when  he 
was  in  the  prime  of  his  years !  Just  at  that  time,  too,  the 
New  York  legislature  was  agitated  on  the  subject  of  the 
United  States  Senate  sitting  with  closed  doors ;  one  of  the 
great  little  questions  of  the  day.  Schuyler,  haughty  old  sol 
dier  that  he  was,  was  the  man  to  insist  upon  excluding  the 
vulgar  public  from  the  deliberations  of  a  body  that  felt  itself 
to  be  the  American  House  of  Lords.  Complaisant  and  popular 
Burr,  who  had  enough  of  the  Napoleonic  intellect  to  see  ttte 
immeasurable  importance  of  little  things,  was,  then  and  after 
ward,  an  advocate  of  an  open  Senate. 

Thus  conjecture  attempts  to  supply  the  want  of  informa 
tion. 

If  the  causes  of  Burr's  elevation  are  uncertain,  the  conse 
quences  of  it  are  not.  Schuyler  felt  his  defeat  acutely,  and 
Hamilton  was  painfully  disappointed.  It  was  of  the  utmost 
possible  importance  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  have 
a  reliable  majority  in  Congress ;  and  the  presence  of  a  devoted 
father-in-law,  in  a  Senate  of  twenty-eight  members  sitting  with 
closed  doors,  was  convenient.  From  1791  dates  Hamilton's 
repugnance  to  Burr,  and  soon  after  his  letters  begin  to  teem 
with  passages  expressive  of  that  repugnance.  The  two  families 
were  on  terms  of  politeness,  then  and  always.  The  two  men 
were,  to  all  appearance,  cordial  friends  enough  down  to  the 
last  month  of  Hamilton's  life.  But  from  this  time,  in  what 
ever  direction  Burr  sought  advancement,  or  advancement 
sought  him,  his  secret,  inveterate  opponent  was  Alexander 
Hamilton  ;  until  at  length  the  politics  of  the  United  States 
was  resolved  into  a  contest  between  these  two  individuals. 

The  effect  upon  Burr's  own  mind  of  his  election  to  the 
Senate  is  dimly  visible  in  his  correspondence  He  seems  now 
to  have  accepted  politics  as  his  vocation.  His  wife  writes  to 
Dim  a  few  weeks  after  the  election,  and  some  months  before 
He  took  his  seat,  that  he  ought  to  take  measures  to  reestablish 


1 80  LIFE     OF     AARON    BTTRB. 

his  health  before  turning  politician.  His  own  letters  contain 
scarcely  an  allusion  to  politics.  Once,  he  advises  Mrs.  Burr 
not  to  travel,  if  possible,  with  a  political  partizan,  but  rather 
with  an  opponent.  Occasionally  he  says  that  he  dares  not 
trust  the  public  mail  with  political  secrets.  When  he  doe* 
write  upon  politics,  it  is  in  ciphers.  He  requests  18  to  ask  45 
whether,  for  any  reasons,  21  could  be  induced  to  vote  for  6, 
and,  if  he  could,  whether  14  would  withdraw  his  opposition  to 
2»,  and  11  exert  his  influence  in  favor  of  22.  The  reader  will, 
however,  remember  that  this  mode  of  correspondence  was 
common  at  that  day  between  politicians.  Though  Burr  was, 
perhaps,  the  most  mysterious  politician  of  them  all,  yet  all 
politicians  were,  more  or  less,  mysterious. 


CHAPTER    XII, 

A    SENATOR. 

INTERS    THB    SENATE —  THE    SENATE'S   INTERVIEW   wrrn  PRESIDENT 

—  BURR'S    ADDRESS   TO    THE    PRESIDENT  —  LETTER    FROM    THE   FRENCH  KING  — 
THE   PRESIDENT    FORBIDS   COLONEL   BURR   TO    EXAMINE    THE    RECORDS  — BURB 
TALKED  OF  FOR  THE  GOVERNORSHIP  OF  THE  STATE  —  BURR'S  OPINION  ON  THE  DIS 
PUTED  CANVASS  —  SECOND  PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION  —  BURR  A  CANDIDATE  —  HAM 
ILTON    OPPOSES    AND    DENOUNCES    HIM  —  BURR   AS   A   DEBATER  —  WASHINGTON'S 
REFUSAL  TO  SEND  HIM  AMBASSADOR  TO  FRANCE — THIRD  PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTIOM 

—  BURR  A  PROMINENT  CANDIDATE — HAMILTON   AGAIN   OPPOSES   HIM  —  DOMESTIC 
-    LIFE  —  DEATH  OF  MRS.  BURR  —  EDUCATION  OF  HIS  DAUGHTER. 

ON  the  first  day  of  the  session,  October  24th,  1791,  Colonel 
Burr  "  took  the  oaths  and  his  seat." 

The  next  day  President  "Washington,  as  the  custom  then 
was,  delivered  his  annual  Speech  to  both  Houses  assembled 
in  the  Senate  Chamber.  The  Speech  was  composed  after 
the  model  of  the  English  king's  speeches  to  Parliament, 
which  it  resembled  also  in  brevity.  First,  the  President 
addressed  his  "Fellow-citizens  of  the  Senate  and  of  the 
House  of  Representatives ;"  then,  the  "  Gentlemen  of  the 
Senate ;"  then,  the  "  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  ;"  and  lastly,  the  "  Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  House 
of  Representatives."  When  the  ceremonial  was  over,  and 
the  Senators  were  left  in  possession  of  their  chamber,  a  com 
mittee  of  three  was  appointed  to  draw  up  the  usual  address 
in  reply  to  the  President,  and  Colonel  Burr,  their  new  and 
youngest  associate,  received  the  compliment  of  being  named 
chairman  of  that  committee.  He  prepared  the  address,  which, 
on  being  read  to  the  Senate,  wras  accepted  without  amendment. 
The  committee  were  next  ordered  to  wait  on  the  President  to 
ask  when  and  where  he  would  receive  the  Senate's  reply  to 
QIS  speech.  Colonel  Burr,  on  their  return,  reported  Monday 
it  noon,  at  the  President's  own  house.  4t  the  time  ap 


i82  LIFE     OF     AARON     BUKB. 

pointed,  the  Senators  went  in  procession  to  the  President's, 
and  were  received  with  that  serious  and  stately  courtesy 
which  was  then  in  vogue  among  persons  in  high  office. 

Fancy  a  long  dining-room,  with  the  tables  and  chairs  re 
moved.  Before  the  fire-place  stands  a  tall  and  superb  figure, 
clad  in  a  suit  of  black  velvet,  with  black  silk  stockings  and 
silver  buckles.  His  hair,  white  with  powder,  is  gathered  be 
hind  in  a  silk  bag.  He  wears  yellow  gloves,  and  holds  a 
cocked  hat  adorned  with  cockade  and  plume.  A  sword,  with 
hilt  of  polished  steel  and  sheath  of  white  leather,  further  re 
lieves  the  somber  magnificence  of  the  President's  form.  The 
Senators  enter,  with  Yice-President  Adams  at  their  head,  and 
form  a  semicircle  round  the  President  while  Mr.  Adams 
reads  the  address. 

As  a  relic  of  an  extinct  usage,  the  reader  may  be  gratified 
to  see  the  address  prepared  by  Colonel  Burr  for  this  occasion. 
It  reads  as  follows : 

"  SIR  :  The  Senate  of  the  United  States  have  received  with 
the  highest  satisfaction  the  assurances  of  public  prosperity 
contained  in  your  speech  to  both  Houses.  The  multiplied 
blessings  of  Providence  have  not  escaped  our  notice,,  or  failed 
to  excite  our  gratitude. 

"  The  benefits  which  flow  from  the  restoration  of  public 
and  private  confidence  are  conspicuous  and  important ;  and 
the  pleasure  with  which  we  contemplate  them  is  heightened 
by  your  assurance  of  those  further  communications  which  shall 
confirm  their  existence  and  indicate  their  source. 

"  While  we  rejoice  in  the  success  of  those  military  opera 
tions  which  have  been  directed  against  the  hostile  Indians,  we 
lament  with  you  the  necessity  that  has  produced  them ;  and 
we  participate  the  hope  that  the  present  prospect  of  a  gene 
ral  peace,  on  terms  of  moderation  and  justice,  may  be  wrought 
into  complete  and  permanent  effect ;  and  that  the  measures  ol 
government  may  equally  embrace  the  security  of  our  fronti 
ers  and  the  general  interests  of  humanity.  Our  solicitude  tc 
cbtain  which,  will  insure  our  zealous  attention  to  an  object  sc 
warmly  espoused  by  the  principles  of  benevolence,  and  sc 
Mghly  interesting  to  the  honor  and  welfare  of  the  nation. 


A     SENATOR  183 

"  The  several  subjects  which  you  have  particularly  recom 
mended,  and  those  which  remain  of  former  sessions,  will  en 
gage  our  early  consideration.  We  are  encouraged  to  prose 
cute  them  with  alacrity  and  steadiness,  by  the  belief  that  they 
will  interest  no  passion  but  that  for  the  general  welfare  ;  by 
the  assurance  of  concert,  and  by  a  view  of  those  arduous  and 
important  arrangements  which  have  been  already  accom 
plished. 

"  We  observe,  sir,  the  constancy  and  activity  of  your  zeal 
for  the  public  good.  The  example  will  animate  our  efforts  to 
promote  the  happiness  of  our  country." 

To  this  address,  the  senatorial  record  informs  us,  the  Presi 
dent  was  pleased  to  make  the  following  reply  : 

"  GENTLEMEN  :  This  manifestation  of  your  zeal  for  the  honor 
and  the  happiness  of  our  country  derives  its  full  value  from 
the  share  which  your  deliberations  have  already  had  in  pro 
moting  both. 

"  I  thank  you  for  the  favorable  sentiments  with  which  you 
view  the  part  I  have  borne  in  the  arduous  trust  committed  to 
the  government  of  the  United  States ;  and  desire  you  to  be 
assured  that  all  my  zeal  will  continue  to  second  those  further 
efforts  for  the  public  good  which  are  insured  by  the  spirit  in 
which  you  are  entering  on  the  present  session." 

Whereupon,  we  may  presume,  the  Senate  made  a  formal 
and  ceremonious  exit,  and  then  returned  to  their  chamber. 

The  session  thus  imposingly  begun,  lasted  more  than  six 
months,  but  no  spectator  witnessed,  and  no  corps  of  reporters 
recorded,  the  proceedings.  The  official  record  exists,  but  it  is 
little  more  than  a  formal  statement  of  votes.  In  Mr.  Benton'g 
valuable  abridgment  of  the  Congressional  Debates,  the  pro 
ceedings  of  this  Senate,  from  October  to  May,  occupy  only 
five  pages.  On  one  of  those  pages  the  name  of  Colonel  Burr 
occurs  in  connection  with  an  affair  which  even  now  has  a 
touching  interest. 

How  grateful  the  people  of  the  United  States  were  to  the 
French,  and  to  the  French  king,  for  the  timely  help  afforded 
DV  them  in  the  late  war,  can  not  be  realized  by  the  present 
uxnrious  generation  ;  nor  how  passionate  and  universal  wan 


184  LIFE     OP     AAEON     BUEB. 

the  sympathy  of  the  delivered  nation  with  the  subsequent 
struggle  of  the  French  for  freedom.  No  sooner  was  America 
free,  than  France  aspired.  In  the  summer  of  1789  the  news 
of  the  Bastile's  immortal  storming  thrilled  the  young  repub 
lic.  Soon,  the  excesses  of  the  Parisians,  in  their  delirium  of 
error  and  desire,  shocked  the  world,  and  gave  pause  to  the 
more  conservative  even  of  Americans.  The  flight  of  the  king 
in  1790,  appears  in  the  memoirs  and  letters  of  that  age  as  a 
terrible  event ;  one  which  lost  the  revolutionists  the  sympa 
thy  of  millions.  But  the  king  was  brought  back  to  Paris  ;  a 
grand  reconciliation  with  the  people  he  had  misunderstood 
was  enacted ;  the  king  accepted  the  constitution  ;  and  France, 
for  a  week,  was  in  ecstacies.  Down  to  this  period,  and  be 
yond  it,  the  great  mass  of  Americans  were  ardent  sympa 
thizers  with  the  Revolution.  But  Washington,  Hamilton, 
Adams,  Rufus  King,  and  other  leading  conservatives,  began 
to  be  quite  decided  in  the  opinion  that  the  French  Revolu 
tion  was  essentially  diabolical,  and  could  issue  in  no  good  to 
the  French,  or  any  other  people. 

In  March,  1792,  the  President  sent  a  message  to  Congress 
worded  with  his  usual  caution,  but  so  worded  as  to  betray  his 
own  opinion.  "  Knowing,"  said  he,  "  the  friendly  interest  you 
take  in  whatever  may  promote  the  happiness  and  prosperity 
of  the  French  nation,"  he  laid  before  them  a  letter  just  re 
ceived  from  his  Most  Christian  Majesty.  The  letter  which 
poor  Louis  had  sent  his  "  very  dear  great  friends  and  allies," 
was  the  following : 

"  We  make  it  our  duty  to  inform  you  that  we  have  accepted 
the  constitution  which  has  been  presented  to  us  in  the  name 
of  the  French  nation,  and  according  to  which  France  will  be 
henceforth  governed.  We  do  not  doubt  that  you  take  an  in 
terest  in  an  event  so  important  to  our  kingdom,  and  to  us 
and  that  it  is  with  real  pleasure  we  take  this  occasion  to  renew 
to  you  assurances  of  the  sincere  friendship  we  bear  you. 
Whereupon,  we  pray  God  to  have  you,  very  dear,  great 
Siends  and  allies,  in  his  just  and  holy  keeping." 

This  letter  having  been  read  in  the  Senate,  a  different 
*rose  as  to  the  manner  in  which  its  reception  should  be  ac 


A     SENATOR.  185 

jnowledged.  First,  a  frigid  resolution  was  proposed,  to  the 
effect  that  the  President  be  informed,  that  the  Senate  have 
received  the  news  contained  in  the  king's  letter  with  satisfac 
tion.  This  resolution  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  six  to  twenty- 
one  ;  Colonel  Burr  voting  against  it ;  his  colleague,  Mr.  King, 
for  it.  The  resolution  was  then  amended,  so  as  to  request  the 
President  to  make  known  to  the  king  that  the  Senate  had  re 
ceived  the  tidings  with  the  highest  satisfaction.  This  was 
pissed. 

Colonel  Munroe,  a  few  days  after,  revived  the  subject  of 
the  Senate's  sitting  with  closed  doors,  and  moved  that,  dur 
ing  the  recess,  galleries  be  constructed  in  the  chamber  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  public,  who  should,  after  the  present 
session,  be  admitted  to  witness  the  proceedings.  This  propo 
sition  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  eight  to  seventeen.  Colonel 
Burr,  who  always  favored  the  measure,  and  afterward  assisted 
to  carry  it,  was  absent,  I  presume,  when  this  vote  was  taken, 
as  his  name  does  not  appear  in  the  record. 

Though  Colonel  Burr  began  his  senatorial  career  by  being 
the  medium  of  the  Senate's  high  courtesy  to  General  Wash 
ington,  yet,  before  the  session  was  over,  he  came  into  disa 
greeable  collision  with  the  President.  Burr  was  Business 
incarnate.  His  activity  was  irrepressible.  Being  now  cut  off 
from  his  ordinary  employments,  and  having  deliberately 
turned  politician,  he  was  eager  to  acquire  knowledge  respect 
ing  state-craft.  It  was  one  of  his  projects,  too,  to  write  a 
History  of  the  American  Revolution.  For  these  reasons,  he 
was  often  busy,  during  his  first  winter  in  Congress,  among  the 
records  in  the  Department  of  State,  of  which  his  friend  Jef 
ferson  was  then  the  chief.  Always  an  early  riser,  he  was  ac 
customed,  for  a  time,  to  go  to  the  department  as  early  as  five 
in  the  morning.  He  employed  a  messenger  to  make  a  fire,  a 
confidential  clerk  to  assist  him  in  searching  and  copying,  a 
servant  to  bring  him  his  breakfast ;  and  so,  from  five  until  ten 
Vclock,  the  business  went  vigorously  on.  This  practice  was 
continued  till  nearly  the  close  of  the  session,  when  operations 
were  interrupted  by  a  peremptory  order  from  the  President, 
forbidding  his  further  examination.  Desiring  to  complete 


86  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BURR. 

his  knowledge  respecting  the  late  surrender  of  the  western 
posts,  he  addressed  a  note  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  requesting  permis 
sion  to  make  that  particular  examination.  The  Secretary  re 
plied  that  "  it  had  been  concluded  to  be  improper  to  commu 
nicate  the  correspondence  of  existing  ministers."  Burr  ap 
pears  to  have  regarded  this  as  an  uncalled-for  and  arbitrary 
proceeding.  It  was  in  accordance  with  the  system  of  the 
time ;  but  from  what  we  now  know  of  the  relations  of  the 
persons  concerned,  and  the  scenes  daily  transpiring  in  the  cab 
inet,  we  may  infer  that  if  the  searcher  of  the  records  had  beer 
a  Senator  approved  and  trusted  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas 
ury,  he  would  not  have  been  denied  access  to  them — at  least,, 
not  in  a  peremptory  manner. 

In  April,  1792,  there  was  to  be  an  election  for  governor  in 
the  State  of  New  York,  and  Colonel  Burr  was  frequently  men 
tioned  as  a  candidate.  At  that  time,  the  respectable  salary 
and  immense  patronage  of  the  governor,  rendered  the  office 
more  imposing  and  more  desired  than  a  seat  in  the  Senate. 
Burr  was  thought  of  as  a  candidate,  first,  by  the  Republican 
party,  who  feared  to  try  the  field  again  with  Governor  Clin 
ton  ;  secondly,  by  the  Federalists,  who  were  not  confident  of 
succeeding  with  a  candidate  fully  identified  with  their  party ; 
thirdly,  he  was  proposed  as  an  independent  candidate,  on  the 
ground  that  he  belonged  to  no  party ,  and  would  be  supported 
by  the  moderate  men  of  all  parties.  The  truth  is,  that  Colonel 
Burr  was  then  a  very  popular  man,  and  both  parties  would 
have  liked  to  secure  the  advantage  of  his  name  and  talents. 
While  it  was  still  uncertain  whether  he  would  run  for  the 
governorship,  some  of  Hamilton's  friends  were  of  opinion  that 
the  best  policy  of  the  Federalists  would  be  to  support  Burr, 
and  they  wrote  to  Hamilton  to  that  effect.  Mr.  Ledyard, 
February  1,  wrote  from  New  York,  that  on  his  arrival  in  the 
city,  he  found  that  "  a  tide  was  likely  to  make  .strongly  for 
Mr.  Burr.  Mr.  Schuyler,"  he  continues,  "  supposes  that  if  Mr, 
Clinton  and  Mr.  Burr  were  the  only  competitors,  and  his 
(Schuyler's)  friends  thrown  out  of  the  scale,  it  would  be  doubt* 
ful  which  succeeded."  After  showing  that,  to  beat  Burr,  thf 
Federalists  must  either  support  Clinton  or  run  a  third  candi 


A.    SENATOR.  187 

late,  neither  of  which  was  advisable,  Mr.  Ledyard  adds  the 
following  observations :  "  If  Burr  finally  succeeds,  and  you 
have  not  the  merit  of  it,  it  would  be  an  event  extremely  dis« 
agreeable  to  me.  With  this  impression,  I  have  sought  re 
peated  interviews  with  him,  until  I  could  procure  an  artiest 
declaration  of  his  sentiments,  both  with  respect  to  the  union 

n  present  grounds,  and  also  with  respect  to  you.  He  has 
expressed  a  sincere  regard  for  the  safety  and  well-being  of 
the  former.  With  respect  to  yourself,  he  expresses  an  entire 
confidence  in  the  wisdom  and  integrity  of  your  designs,  and  a 
real  personal  friendship ;  and  which  he  does  not  seem  to  sup- 
pose  you  doubt  of,  or  that  you  ever  will,  unless  it  may  arise 
from  meddling  interveners." 

The  next  day  after  this  letter  was  dispatched,  James  Wat 
son,  another  leading  Federalist,  writes  to  Hamilton  in  a  sim 
ilar  strain.  Burr's  chances,  he  thought,  were  good,  and,  if  the 
Federalists  should  go  for  him,  strong.  Had  they  not  better 
support  him  ?  If  they  do  not,  will  it  not  make  him  an  oppo 
nent  of  the  Federal  party,  if  he  is  not  now  ?  If  they  do,  will  it 
not  attach  him  to  the  Federalists  ?  And  if  he  should  turn 
traitor,  will  it  not  so  destroy  his  popularity  as  to  deprive  him 
of  the  power  of  doing  harm  ?  "  Whenever,"  says  Mr.  Wat 
son,  "  I  imagine  how  much  easier  it  is  to  embarrass  and  ob 
struct  the  benign  operations  of  government  than  to  give  it  the 
requisite  tone  and  vigor,  I  am  solicitous  to  remove  talents, 
uerseverance,  and  address,  as  far  from  the  opposition  as  pos 
sible."  "The  absence  of  evil  will  continue  to  be  desirable 
until  the  public  mind  becomes  more  quiet,  and  federal 
habits  take  deeper  root.  I  shall  only  add  that  the  cautious 
distance  observed  by  this  gentleman  toward  all  parties,  how 
ever  exceptionable  in  a  politician,  may  be  a  real  merit  in  a 
governor." 

Upon  the  proposal  thus  plausibly  urged,  Hamilton,  the  un 
questioned  leader  of  the  Federal  party  in  the  State^placed  his 
veto.  A  w-ord  from  him  would,  in  all  probability,  have  made 
Aaron  Burr  Governor  of  New  York  in  1792.  But  that  word 
tfas  not  spoken.  The  Federalists  nominated  the  virtue ti§ 
Tohu  Jay,  the  Republicans  adhered  tc  their  old  standard 


»88  LIFE     OF     AAKON     BURR 

bearer,  Governor  Clinton,  and  the  contest  was  a  strictly  party 
one. 

It  was  the  closest  and  angriest  the  State  had  yet  seen,  and 
the  issue,  instead  of  calming,  exasperated  parties  more  than 
he  strife  itself.  There  was  an  informality  in  the  canvass,  and 
>oth  sides  claimed  the  victory.  The  canvassers  were  eleven 
n  number,  of  whom  seven  thought  that  Clinton  had  carried 
the  State  by  a  majority  of  one  hundred  and  eight,  while  the 
remaining  four  were  for  giving  the  victory  to  Jay.  After 
many  stormy  discussions,  the  canvassers  agreed  to  request  the 
opinion  of  the  Senators,  Rufus  King  and  Aaron  Burr,  upon 
the  point  in  dispute,  which  was  the  following : 

The  law  then  required  that  the  votes  of  a  county  should  be 
sealed  up  by  the  inspectors  of  election,  delivered  into  the 
hands  of  the  sheriff,  and  by  him  or  his  deputy  conveyed  in 
tact  to  the  Secretary  of  State.  Now,  it  chanced  that  the 
county  of  Otsego,  on  this  occasion,  had  no  sheriff.  R.  R. 
Smith  had  held  the  office,  but  his  term  had  expired.  Another 
gentleman  had  been  appointed  sheriff,  but  had  not  yet  been 
sworn  in ;  and  during  the  brief  interregnum,  the  important 
business  of  receiving  and  conveying  the  votes  had  presented 
itself  In  these  circumstances,  Mr.  Smith,  the  late  sheriff,  as 
was  natural,  performed  the  duty.  But  he  was  not  the  sheriff. 
Nay,  he  had  been  elected  to  the  board  of  supervisors,  an  office 
incompatible  with  that  of  sheriff,  and  had  actually  taken  his 
seat  at  the  board,  and  performed  official  acts.  The  question 
was,  whether  the  votes  received  and  sent  by  him  could  be  le 
gally  canvassed.  If  yes,  the  Federalists  had  triumphed,  and 
John  Jay  was  governor.  If  no,  the  Republicans  were  in  the 
ascendant,  and  George  Clinton  retained  the  power  he  had 
wielded  for  sixteen  years. 

Every  head  in  the  United  States  that  had  a  smattering  of 
aw  in  it  was  given  up  to  the  consideration  of  this  great  ques 
tion  in  the  spring  of  1792.  The  two  Senators,  upon  confer 
ring,  discovered  that  an  irreconcilable  difference  of  opinion 
existed  between  them  on  the  subject.  Colonel  Burr  proposed 
that  they  should,  for  that  reason,  decline  advising  the  can- 
rassers.  But  as  Mr.  King  avowed  an  intention  of  giving  hij 


A.    SENATOR.  189 

opinion,  nothing  remained  but  that  Colonel  Burr  should 
give  his  also.  The  two  opinions  were  given.  Both  were 
able,  clear,  and  brief.  Mr.  King's,  which  was  foi  admitting 
the  votes,  carried  conviction  with  it  to  every  Federal  mind  in 
the  country ;  while  Colonel  Burr's,  which  was  for  rejecting 
tnem,  was  equally  convincing  to  the  Republican  intellect. 
Indeed,  it  was,  considering  all  the  circumstances,  a  question 
really  difficult  to  decide,  and  the  best  lawyers  of  that  day  dif 
fered  upon  it,  as  doubtless  would  the  best  lawyers  of  the  pres 
ent  day  if  it  were  submitted  to  them.  Before  giving  his  own, 
Colonel  Burr  obtained  the  written  opinion  of  Edmund  Ran 
dolph  (Attorney-General),  Pierpont  Edwards,  Jonathan  D.  Ser 
geant,  and  other  eminent  legal  friends,  all  of  whom  coincided 
with  him.  On  the  other  hand,  Rufus  King  could  exhibit  an 
imposing  array  of  names  in  support  of  his  opinion.  Mr.  King 
was  for  having  justice  done  ;  Burr,  for  having  the  law  ob 
served.  Both  opinions  were  doubtless  as  sincere  as  they  were 
characteristic.* 

The  canvassers,  thus  compelled  to  choose  between  two 
opinions  diametrically  adverse,  decided,  of  course,  to  follow 
that  which  accorded  with  the  political  preferences  of  the  ma- 

*  The  following  is  the  material  paragraph  of  Colonel  Burr's  opinion,  which, 
he  declared,  was  never  answered,  except  by  abuse:  "  There  are  instances  of 
offices  being  exercised  by  persons  holding  under  an  authority  apparently 
good,  but  which,  on  strict  legal  examination,  proves  defective ;  whose  acts, 
nevertheless,  are,  with  some  limitations,  considered  as  valid.  This  authority 
is  called  colorabk,  and  the  officer,  in  such  cases,  is  said  to  be  an  officer  de 
facto ;  which  intends  an  intermediate  state  between  an  exercise  strictly  law 
ful,  and  one  without  such  color  of  right.  Mr.  Smith  does  not  appear  to  me 
to  have  holden  the  office  of  sheriff,  on  the  3d  of  March,  under  such  color  or 
pretense  of  right.  The  term  of  his  office  had  expired,  and  he  had  formally 
expressed  his  determination  not  to  accept  a  reappointment ;  after  the  expi 
ration  of  the  year  no  accepted,  and  even  two  days  before  the  receipt  of  the 
ballots,  openly  exercised  an  office  incompatible  with  that  of  sheriff;  and  it  ia 
to  be  inferred,  from  the  tenor  of  the  affidavits,  that  he  then  kn'  w  of  the  ap 
pointment  of  Mr.  Gilbert.  The  assumption  of  this  authority  by  Mr.  Smith, 
loes  not  even  appear  to  have  been  produced  by  any  urgent  public  necessity 
»r  imminent  public  inconvenience.  Mr.  Gilbert  was  qualified  in  season  to 
Have  discharged  the  duty,  and,  for  aught  thai  is  shown,  his  attendance,  H 
desired,  might  have  been  procured  still  earlier." 


190  LIFE     OF     AABON     BUER. 

jority  of  their  number.  They  pronounced  George  Clinton 
duly  elected.  The  exasperation  of  the  Federalists,  upon  the 
promulgation  of  this  decision,  was  such  that,  for  a  time,  the 
State  seemed  in  danger  of  anarchy.  For  many  years  the 
dream  of  that  party  had  been  to  see  Clinton  defeated,  and  a 
Federalist  in  the  executive  chair.  He  had  been  defeated,  but 
the  scepter  which  they  were  just  about  to  grasp,  they  now 
saw  snatched  away  from  between  their  eager  hands.  Nothing 
but  the  moderation  of  Mr.  Jay,  and  the  general  regard  for 
law,  which  prevailed  in  the  most  order-loving  of  parties,  saved 
the  State  from  temporary  confusion. 

As  each  Senator  had  decided  in  favor  of  his  own  party,  the 
motives  of  both  were  assailed.  Colonel  Burr,  it  was  charged, 
was  an  adherent  of  Governor  Clinton,  and  wished  to  ingratiate 
himself  with  the  Republicans.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend,  written 
soon  after  he  had  given  his  opinion,  he  alludes  to  these  accu 
sations.  "  Upon  the  late  occasion,"  he  says,  "  I  earnestly 
wished  and  sought  to  be  relieved  from  the  necessity  of  giving 
any  opinion,  particularly  from  a  knowledge  that  it  would  be 
disagreeable  to  you  and  a  few  others  whom  I  respect  and 
wish  always  to  gratify.  But  the  conduct  of  Mr.  King  left  me 
no  alternative.  I  was  obliged  to  give  an  opinion,  and  I  have 
not  yet  learned  to  give  any  other  than  which  my  judgment 
directs.  It  would,  indeed,  be  the  extreme  of  weakness  in  me 
to  expect  friendship  from  Mr.  Clinton.  I  have  too  many  rea 
sons  to  believe  that  he  regards  me  with  jealousy  and  malevo 
lence.  Still,  this  alone  ought  not  to  have  induced  me  to  re 
fuse  my  advice  to  the  canvassers.  Some  pretend,  indeed,  but 
none  can  believe,  that  I  am  prejudiced  in  his  favor.  I  have 
not  even  seen  or  spoken  to  him  since  January  last." 

Nevertheless,  three  months  after  these  words  were  written, 
Governor  Clinton  nominated  him  to  the  bench  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  State.  Colonel  Burr  preferred  to  retain  his  seat 
ji  the  Senate,  and  declined  the  judgeship. 

The  attention  of  the  public  was  soon  drawn  from  questions 
affecting  a  single  State  to  one  in  which  all  the  States  were 
Equally  concerned.  For  the  second  time,  the  young  natioc 
was  to  choose  chief  magistrates ;  or,  to  ppealr  more  correct)  v 


A    SENATOR.  191 

ft  Vice-President^  fcr  there  could  be  no  competition  for  tne 
nVst  office  in  the  people's  gift,  while  George  Washington  was 
willing  to  serve  them  in  it.  There  was  an  opposition,  it  is 
true ;  but  its  force  was  directed  chiefly  against  Hamilton's 
measures ;  and  as  soon  as  it  was  known  that  General  Wash 
ington  had  consented  to  serve  another  term,  the  hopes  of  the 
opposition  were  limited  to  the  election  of  a  Vice-President,  in 
place  of  Mr.  Adams. 

At  that  time,  the  reader  must  bear  in  mind,  no  one  was 
directly  nominated  for  the  office  of  Vice-President.  The 
Constitution  required  each  presidential  elector  to  vote  for  two 
persons  to  fill  the  two  highest  offices ;  the  man  who  received 
the  greatest  number  of  votes  was  declared  President,  and  he 
who  received  the  next  highest  number  was  declared  Vice- 
President.  At  the  first  presidential  election  ever  held,  the 
vote  of  the  electoral  college  was  as  follows :  For  George 
Washington,  69  votes  (the  whole  number)  ;  John  Adams,  34  • 
John  Jay,  9 ;  Robert  H.  Harrison,  6  ;  John  Rutledge,  6 
John  Hancock,  4 ;  George  Clinton,  3  ;  Samuel  Huntingdon,  2  ; 
John  Wilton,  2 ;  James  Armstrong,  1  ;  Edward  Telfair,  1 ; 
Benjamin  Lincoln,  1.  Mr.  Adams,  therefore,  became  Vice 
President  though  he  received  one  less  than  a  majority  of  the 
whole  number  of  votes.  At  that  election  there  was  nothing 
.ike  an  organized  opposition.  Every  elector's  first  choice  was 
General  Washington ;  and  for  the  second  office  named  the 
favorite  son  of  his  own  State,  or  a  man  particularly  admired 
oy  himself. 

But  now  there  was  opposition ;  of  which  more  will  be  said 
in  another  chapter.  At  present  the  object  of  that  opposition, 
as  just  remarked,  was  to  elevate  one  of  their  own  party  to  the 
Vice-Presidency.  George  Clinton,  Governor  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  the  man  distinguished  above  all  others  in  the  Uni 
ted  States  for  his  opposition  to  the  adoption  of  the  federal 
Constitution,  was  the  candidate  upon  whom  a  majority  of  the 
party  fixed  their  hopes,  and  upon  whom  its  strength  was  finally 
concentrated.  But,  among  the  names  mentioned  in  private 
circles  and  in  public  prints  for  the  office,  was  that  of  Aaron 
Burr.  Indeed,  for  a  short  period,  it  seemed  uncertain  who 


192  I1FE     OP     AAEON     BURK. 

would  be   the   candidate  of  the  opposition  in   some   of  th« 
Dcrthern  States,  Clinton  or  Burr  ! 

Rufus  King  began  to  be  alarmed  for  the  success  of  Mr 
Adams.  September  IV,  1792,  we  find  him  writing  to  Hamil 
ton  in  this  manner :  "  If  the  enemies  of  the  government  are 
secret  and  united,  we  shall  lose  Mr.  Adams.  Burr  is  industri 
ous  in  his  canvass,  and  his  object  is  well  understood  by  our 
antis.  Mr.  Edwards  is  to  make  interest  for  him  in  Connecti 
cut,  and  Mr.  Dallas,  who  is  here,  and  quite  in  the  circle  of  the 
governor  and  the  party,  informs  us  that  Mr.  Burr  will  be  sup 
ported  as  Vice-President  in  Pennsylvania.  Should  Jefferson 
and  his  friends  unite  in  the  project,  the  votes  of  Mr.  Adams 
may  be  so  reduced,  that  though  more  numerous  than  those  of 
any  other  person,  he  may  decline  the  office.  Nothing  which 
has  heretofore  happened  so  decisively  proves  the  inveteracy 
of  the  opposition.  Should  they  succeed  in  degrading  Mr. 
Adams,  much  would  be  to  be  apprehended  in  respect  to  the 
measures  which  have  received  the  sanction  of  government." 

It  is  but  common  fairness  to  remind  the  reader  that  this  let 
ter  was  written  by  a  political  opponent,  who  could  not  be  per 
sonally  cognizant  of  Burr's  movements  as  a  politician.  In 
reading  letters,  to  be  hereafter  quoted,  the  same  fact  is  to  be 
constantly  kept  in  view  by  those  who  wish  to  know  the  truth 
/especting  the  man  and  his  times. 

Hamilton  replies  to  Mr.  King  that  he  is  astonished  to  hear 
rf  Burr's  appearance  as  a  candidate.  The  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  was  evidently  puzzled,  and,  perhaps,  a  little  alarmed. 
A  few  days  after,  he  wrote  to  a  friend  (whose  name  has  not 
been  revealed  by  the  editor  of  his  works)  a  long  letter  depre 
cating  the  advancement  of  Burr,  and  denouncing  him  in  the 
strongest  language  that  even  his  vigorous  pen  could  command 
After  saying  that  he  was  not  yet  quite  sure  that  "  Burr's  ap 
pearance  on  the  stage  was  not  a  diversion  in  favor  of  Mr, 
Clinton,"  he  proceeds  as  follows : 

"  Mr.  Clinton's  success  I  should  think  very  unfortunate ;  I 
am  not  for  trusting  the  government  too  much  in  the  hands  of 
its  enemies.  But  still,  Mr.  C.  is  a  man  of  property,  and  ir 
private  life,  so  far  as  I  know,  of  probity.  I  fear  the  othei 


A    SENATOR.  108 

gentleman  is  unprincipled,  both  as  a  public  and  a  private  man. 
When  the  Constitution  was  in  deliberation,  his  conduct  was 
equivocal ;  but  its  enemies,  who,  I  believe,  best  understood 
him,  considered  him  as  with  them.  In  fact,  I  take  it  he  is  for 
or  against  nothing,  but  as  it  suits  his  interest  or  ambition.  He 
is  determined,  as  I  conceive,  to  make  his  way  to  be  the  head 
of  the  popular  party,  and  to  climb,  per  fas  aut  nefas,  to  the 
highest  honors  of  the  State,  and  as  much  higher  as  circumstan 
ces  may  permit.  Embarrassed,  as  I  understand,  in  his  circum 
stances,  with  an  extravagant  family,  bold,  enterprizing,  and 
intriguing,  I  am  mistaken  if  it  be  not  his  object  to  play  the 
game  of  confusion,  and  I  feel  it  to  be  a  religious  duty  to 
oppose  his  career. 

"  I  have  hitherto  scrupulously  abstained  from  interference  in 
elections;  but  the  occasion  is,  in  my  opinion,  of  sufficient  im 
portance  to  warrant,  in  this  instance,  a  departure  from  that 
rule.  I  therefore  commit  my  opinion  to  you  without  scruple ; 
but  in  perfect  confidence.  I  pledge  my  character  for  discern 
ment,  that  it  is  incumbent  on  every  good  man  to  resist  the 
present  design." 

This  was  written  on  the  21st  of  September.  On  the  26th, 
he  writes  to  another  unnamed  person  in  the  same  strain.  "Mr. 
Burr's  integrity  as  an  individual,"  says  Hamilton,  "  is  not  un- 
impeached,"  and,  "  as  a  public  man,  he  is  one  of  the  worst 
sort.  Secretly  turning  liberty  into  ridicule,  he  knows  as  well 
as  most  men  how  to  make  use  of  the  name.  In  a  word,  if 
we  have  an  embryo  Cassar  in  the  United  States,  'tis  Burr." 

These  letters  were  not  designed  for  the  amusement  of  the 
Secretary's  correspondent.  In  a  few  days,  Rufus  King  writes 
back  to  him,  that  "  care  has  been  taken  to  put  our  friends  at 
the  eastward  on  their  guard."  The  letters  produced  effects, 
we  see. 

To  General  C.  C.  Pinckney  of  South  Carolina,  Hamilton 
writes  to  the  same  purport,  and  urges  him  to  promote  the  elec 
tion  of  men  friendly  to  the  administration.  As  he  denounced 
Burr  in  his  northern  letters,  he  assails  Jefferson  in  his  south 
era — Jefferson,  his  colleague  in  the  cabinet.  "'Tis  suspected 
oy  some,"  he  says,  "that  the  plan  is  only  to  divide  the  votes 


94  LIFE     OP     AAEON     BURR. 

of  the  northern  and  middle  States  to  let  in  Mr.  Jefferson  bj 
the  votes  of  the  South.  I  will  not  scruple  to  say  to  you,  in 
confidence,  that  this  also  would  be  a  serious  misfortune  to  the 
government.  That  gentleman  whom  I  once  very  much  es 
teemed,  but  who  does  not  permit  me  to  retain  that  sentiment 
for  him,  is  certainly  a  man  of  sublimated  and  paradoxical  im 
aginations,  entertaining  and  propagating  opinions  inconsistent 
with  dignified  and  orderly  government." 

Five  days  later,  the  active  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  writes 
another  letter  upon  Burr,  but  in  a  much  more  guarded  man 
ner.  "My  opinion  of  Mr.  Burr,"  he  remarks,  with  admirable 
consistency,  "  is  YET  TO  FORM,  but  according  to  the  present 
state  of  it,  he  is  a  man  whose  only  political  principle  is  to 
mount,  at  all  events,  to  the  highest  legal  honors  of  the  nation, 
and  as  much  further  as  circumstances  will  carry  him.  Impu 
tations,  not  favorable  to  his  integrity  as  a  man,  rest  upon  him, 
but  I  do  not  vouch  for  their  authenticity." 

On  the  21st  of  September,  then,  he  was  willing  to  pledge 
his  character  for  discernment,  that  Burr  was  an  embryo  Ca3sar. 
On  the  15th  of  October,  his  opinion  of  the  individual  was  yet 
to  form.  The  good  Hamilton  was  a  man  of  very  ardent  feel 
ings  ;  he  was  devoted  to  the  support  of  the  system  he  had 
created ;  and  was  apt  to  give  way  to  a  too  sweeping  denunci 
ation  of  the  men  whom  he  disapproved.  And  besides,  his  cor 
respondent  of  September  was,  probably,  a  man  he  could  more 
implicitly  trust,  than  he  could  him  of  October. 

But  these  denunciations  might  as  well  have  been  spared. 
It  is  certain,  that  neither  Burr  nor  his  friends  entertained  a 
serious  thought  of  his  competing  for  the  Vice-Presidency 
He  received  just  one  vote.  Of  the  eight  electors  of  South 
Carolina,  seven  gave  their  second  vote  for  John  Adams ;  one 
for  Aaron  Burr.  The  number  of  electors  had  increased,  in 
four  years,  from  69  to  132.  George  Washington  again  re 
ceived  the  whole  number.  For  John  Adams,  77  votes  were 
cast  ;  for  George  Clinton,  50 ;  for  Thomas  Jefferson,  11;  fo? 
A.aron  Burr,  1.  This  single  vote,  given  by  a  personal  friend 
probably,  may  have  been  of  some  importance  to  Burr,  in  asso 
tiating  his  name,  in  the  popular  mind,  with  the  office. 


A    SENATOR  195 

avs,  Colonel  Burr  played  a  distinguished,  and 
occasionally,  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States.  And  that  is  nearly  all  we  know  of  him  as  a  Senator. 
He  was  renowned  as  an  orator,  but  no  speech  of  his  exists, 
except  in  faint  outline.  John  Taylor  writes  a  note  to  him,  on 
one  occasion,  in  which  he  uses  this  language :  "  We  shall  leave 
you  to  reply  to  King :  first,  because  you  desired  it ;  second, 
all  depends  on  it ;  no  one  else  can  do  it ;  and  the  audience 
will  expect  it."  There  are  allusions  in  the  political  papers  of 
the  day  to  a  great  speech  delivered  by  Burr  in  opposition  to 
Jay's  treaty,  which  evidently  gained  him  much  applause. 
It  is  spoken  of  as  though  every  one  was  acquainted  with  it ; 
as  we  should  allude  to  one  of  the  well-known  speeches  of  Clay 
or  Webster.  Rufus  King,  I  am  enabled  to  state,  was  of 
opinion  that  Burr's  talents  as  a  debater  were  overrated.  In 
conversing  upon  those  times,  Mr.  King  would  say  that  Burr 
had  a  rare  faculty  in  summing  up  a  discussion,  but  that  he 
added  to  it  few  ideas  of  his  own.  He  never  opened  a  debate. 
But  where  a  question  had  been  discussed  to  exhaustion,  he 
knew  how  to  use  well  the  vast  stores  of  information  which 
had  been  elicited,  and  to  set  in  new  and  dense  array  the  argu 
ments  that  had  been  used  by  others.  This  faculty,  aided  by 
his  persuasive  and  emphatic  manner,  made  him  a  favorite 
speaker ;  and  the  more,  as  he  never  wearied  an  audience  by 
prolixity. 

That  he  was  an  in dustrious  member  is  indicated  by  the 
number  of  committees  upon  which  he  served.  The  records 
show,  however,  that  he  was  not  generally  in  his  place  during 
the  first  and  last  days  of  a  session.  We  may  infer  from  his 
correspondence  that  he  was  full  of  occupation  of  some  kind  in 
Philadelphia.  He  frequently  alludes  to  the  heaps  of  unopened 
letters  upon  his  table. 

He  acted  with  the  liberal,  or  Republican  party,  invariably. 
He  contended  for  an  open  Senate,  session  after  session,  till,  in 
1794,  the  measure  was  carried  by  a  vote  of  nineteen  to  eight, 
He  supported  the  resolution  that  "  every  printer  of  newspapers 
may  send  one  paper  to  each  and  every  other  printer  of  news 
papers  within  the  United  States,  free  of  postage,  under  such 


196  LIFEOPAAEONBUBB. 

regulations  as  the  Postmaster-General  shall  provide."  He  fa^ 
vored  the  admission  of  Albert  Gallatin  to  serve  as  a  Senator 
which  was  opposed  on  the  ostensible  ground  that  he  had  not 
been  a  citizen  of  the  country  for  the  requisite  nine  years.  He 
took  the  lead  in  opposing  Chief  Justice  Jay's  mission  to  En 
gland,  for  the  twofold  reason  that  it  was  unnecessary  to  send 
any  minister  at  all  to  England  at  that  time ;  and  that  it  was 
contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  impolitic  and  unsafe, 
to  select  an  embassador  from  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court. 
All  measures  tending  to  the  support  and  comfort  of  the  French 
in  their  struggle  with  the  leagued  despotisms  of  Europe,  found 
in  Burr  an  advocate.  In  a  word,  he  was  a  leader  and  cham 
pion  of  the  party  which  acknowledged  Jefferson  as  its  chief, 
and  boasted  the  adherence  of  Madison  and  Monroe. 

After  Burr's  downfall,  Jefferson  used  to  say  that  he  had 
never  liked  him ;  and  that,  at  the  very  height  of  Burr's  pop 
ularity,  he  had  habitually  cautioned  Madison  not  to  trust  him 
too  far.  "  I  never,"  wrote  Jefferson  once,  "  thought  him  an 
honest,  frank-dealing  man ;  but  considered  him  as  a  crooked 
gun,  or  other  perverted  machine,  whose  aim  or  shot  you  could 
never  be  sure  of."  But  this  was  in  1807.  There  is  abundant 
proof,  that,  in  the  full  tide  of  his  senatorial  career,  Burr's 
standing,  both  with  the  leaders  and  with  the  masses  of  his 
party,  was  only  second  to  that  of  Jefferson  himself. 

Take  this  incident,  for  example.  In  1794,  the  unpopular 
ity  of  Gouverneur  Morris,  the  American  minister  in  France, 
was  at  its  height.  The  republicans  of  Paris,  and  the  repub" 
licans  of  the  United  States,  were  aware  of  his  utter  want  of 
sympathy  with  the  Revolution,  and  were  clamorous  for  his 
recall.  General  Washington  had  let  fall  an  intimation  of  his 
willingness  to  yield  to  their  desire,  and  to  appoint  a  member 
of  the  opposition  in  his  place.  Accordingly,  a  caucus  of  the 
Republican  Senators  and  Representatives  was  called  to  select 
a  candidate  to  be  proposed  to  the  President  for  the  mission 
The  caucus  agreed  to  recommend  Colonel  Burr.  Mr.  Mad 
ison  and  Mr.  Monroe  were  members  of  the  committee  ap- 
oointed  to  wait  upon  General  Washington,  and  communicate 
*he  preference  of  the  caucus ;  and  in  the  interview  with  tin 


A    SENATOR  197 

President,  Mr.  Madison  was  the  spokesman.  After  hearing 
fche  message,  General  Washington  was  silent  for  a  few  mo 
ments.  Then  he  said,  it  had  been  the  rule  of  his  public  life 
never  to  nominate  for  a  high  and  responsible  office  a  man  of 
whose  integrity  he  was  not  assured.  He  had  not  confidence 
in  Colonel  Burr  in  that  respect,  and  therefore  must  decline 
nominating  him.  The  committee  retired,  and  reported  the 
result  of  the  interview.  The  caucus  unanimously  resolved  to 
adhere  to  their  nomination,  and  requested  the  committee  to 
inform  the  President  of  the  fact.  General  Washington  was 
evidently  irritated  by  the  second  proposal  of  an  offensive 
name,  and  replied  with  warmth  that  his  decision  was  irrevo 
cable.  He  added,  apologetically,  "  I  will  nominate  you,  Mr. 
Madison,  or  you,  Mr.  Monroe."  Madison  replied  that  he 
had,  long  ago,  made  up  his  mind  not  to  go  abroad.  The 
committee,  upon  reporting  the  result  of  the  second  confer 
ence  to  the  caucus,  found  it  more  inflexible  than  ever ;  and 
were  instructed  to  go  a  third  time  to  the  President,  and  say 
that  Colonel  Burr  was  the  choice  of  the  Republican  Senators 
and  Representatives,  and  that  they  would  make  no  other  rec 
ommendation.  This  message  was  delivered  to  the  Secretary 
of  State,  who,  knowing  the  President's  feelings  on  the  sub 
ject,  declined  delivering  it.  Colonel  Monroe  was  finally 
selected. 

Reflecting  upon  this  circumstance,  the  idea  will  occur  to 
the  individual  long  immersed  in  the  reading  of  that  period 
that  this  invincible  distrust  of  Colonel  Burr  was  perhaps  im 
planted,  certainly  nourished,  in  the  mind  of  General  Washing 
ton  by  his  useful  friend  and  adherent,  Alexander  Hamilton 
Hamilton  was  not  a  person  to  conceal  from  General  Washing 
ton  his  repugnance  to  the  man  whose  career  he  felt  it  a  relig 
ious  duty  to  oppose.  Washington  had  trusted  and  applauded 
Burr  in  the  Revolution.  Whence  this  utter,  this  resolute  dis 
trust,  if  not  derived  from  the  minister  in  whose  sagacity  and 
bonesty  the  President  had  such  absolute  faith  ?  Another 
suspicion  steals  over  the  immersed  intellect.  The  remarkable 
pertinacity  of  the  democratic  caucus  may  have  been  partly 
Dwing  to  the  desirableness  of  removing  an  unmanageable 


08  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BUKB. 

taudidate  three  thousand  miles  from  the  scene  of  the  next 
Dresidential  election. 

From  that  contest  the  preeminence  of  General  Washington 
was  to  be  removed,  and  a  President  was  to  be  chosen.  Jeffer 
son  was  the  choice  of  a  majority  of  the  Republicans ;  but, 
since  the  last  election,  Burr  had  made  surprising  advances  in 
popularity  and  importance.  George  Clinton  was  eclipsed. 
Burr  was  everywhere  spoken  of  as  the  Republican  choice  for 
the  second  office,  and  there  were  certainly  a  respectable  num 
ber  of  persons  in  the  country  who  preferred  him  for  the  first. 
We  find  numerous  indications  of  this  in  the  letters  and  papers 
of  the  time.  A  gentleman  writes  from  Boston  to  Hamilton, 
December  9th,  1796:  "Your  Judge  Smith  sent  letters  to 
some  of  our  electors,  and,  I  believe,  to  New  Hampshire, 
•eliciting  votes  for  Burr  very  strongly,  and  rather  pressing 
for  Jefferson."  Hamilton  writes  to  Rufus  King  (then  in  Eu 
rope),  December  16th,  1796  :  "  Our  anxiety  has  been  extreme 
on  the  subject  of  the  election  for  President.  If  we  may  trust 
our  information,  which  we  have  every  reason  to  trust,  it  is 
now  decided  that  neither  Jefferson  nor  Burr  can  be  Presi 
dent.  *  *  *  The  event  will  not  a  little  mortify  Burr.  Vir 
ginia  has  given  him  only  one  vote." 

We  may  infer  from  this  language,  that  there  was  a  period 
of  the  canvass  when  Hamilton,  the  brains  and  nerve  of  the 
Federal  party,  apprehended  the  possibility  of  Aaron  Burr's 
succeeding  General  Washington  in  the  presidential  chair ! 

But,  not  to  dwell  upon  this  campaign — since  a  more  stirring 
and  a  more  decisive  one  awaits  us — the  result  of  it  was  as  fol 
lows  :  John  Adams  received  71  votes  ;  Thomas  Jefferson,  68 ; 
Thomas  Pinckney,  59  ;  Aaron  Burr,  30  ;  Samuel  Adams,  15  ; 
Oliver  Ellsworth,  11 ;  George  Clinton,  7  ;  John  Jay,  5 ;  James 
Iredell,  2  ;  George  Washington,  2  ;  John  Henry,  2  ;  Samuel 
Johnson,  2  ;  C.  C.  Pinckney,  1.  So  John  Adams  became  Pres 
dent,  Thomas  Jefferson,  Vice-President;  and  Aaron  Buri1 
»vas  conspicuously  before  the  country  as  a  candidate  for  those 
foveted  places.  Of  the  30  electoral  votes  cast  for  Burr,  Ten 
uessee  gave  him  3  ;  Kentucky,  4  ;  North  Carolina,  6  ;  Vir 
ginia,  1  ;  Maryland,  3  ;  Pennsylvania,  13.  Not  a  vote  did  h* 


A     SENATOK  199 

get  from  a  Puritan  State ;  ncr  did  Jefferson.  New  England 
was  as  Foderal  as  she  was  Puritanical,  and  had  no  vote  for  the 
anti-Federal  grandson  of  her  Puritan-in -chief.  This  fact  does 
not  countenance  John  Adams's  emphatic  assertion,  that  the 
capital  upon  which  Burr  embarked  in  the  business  of  politician  .} 
was  the  fame  of  his  father  and  grandfather. 

While  thus  Colonel  Burr  had  been  striding  toward  the  higb 
places  of  the  world,  events  of  importance  had  occurred  in  his 
own  household.  Before  entering  upon  the  decisive  period  of 
his  political  life,  let  us  pause  here  for  a  moment  and  see  how 
he  appeared,  in  the  day  of  his  glory,  as  a  husband,  as  a  par 
ent,  and  as  a  master. 

As  years  rolled  on  and  cares  increased,  the  letters  of  Mrs. 
Burr  to  her  husband  became  longer,  and  less  in  the  style  that 
Juliet  would  have  used  in  writing  to  banished  Romeo.  But 
they  were  warm,  confiding,  and  elegant ;  as  his  were  to  her. 
They  were  the  letters  of  a  careful  and  devoted  wife  to  a  hus 
band  she  was  proud  of,  and  desired  above  all  things  to  help 
and  gratify.  To  her  he  confided  every  thing.  His  business 
was  left  partly  in  her  care,  and  with  her  he  conversed  upon 
his  political  plans.  He  sometimes  gave  her  information  to  be 
communicated  to  his  political  friends  in  New  York.  Occa 
sionally,  during  the  session  of  Congress,  he  would  hurry  away 
upon  the  adjournment  of  the  Senate  on  Friday,  to  meet  his 
wife  at  Trenton,  and  after  spending  Saturday  and  Sunday  in 
her  society,  return  on  Sunday  night  to  Philadelphia.  To  the 
last,  she  was  a  happy  wife,  and  he  an  attentive,  fond  husband. 
I  assert  this  positively.  The  contrary  has  been  recently  de 
clared  on  many  platforms ;  but  I  pronounce  the  assertion  to 
be  one  of  the  thousand  calumnies  with  which  the  memory  of 
'.is  singular,  amiable,  and  faulty  being  has  been  assailed.  No 
one  now  lives  who  can,  of  his  own  personal  knowledge,  speak 
of  the  domestic  life  of  a  lady  who  died  sixty-two  years  ago 
But  there  are  many  still  living  whose  parents  were  most  inti 
mately  conversant  with  the  interior  of  Richmond  Hill,  and 
who  have  heard  narrated  all  the  minute  incidents  of  the  life 
'ed  therein.  The  last  of  the  old  servants  of  the  family  died 
a  short,  time  ago ;  and  the  persons  best  acquainted  witr 


200  LIFE     OF     AARON     BTJBK. 

the  best  part  of  Burr's  character  are  still  walking  these  streets 
His  own  letters  to  his  wife — all  respect,  solicitude,  and  affeo 
tion — confirm  the  positive  asseverations  of  these.  I  repeat 
therefore,  that  Mrs.  Burr  lived  and  died  a  satisfied,  a  confid 
ing,  a  beloved,  a  trusted  wife. 

Soon  after  her  husband  "  turned  politician,"  her  health, 
never  vigorous,  began  to  fail,  and  her  maladies  at  length  con- 
centrated  into  a  cancer  of  the  most  virulent  and  offensive  de 
scription.  She  lingered  long  in  anguish.  Her  husband,  both 
by  personal  attentions  and  by  the  advice  which  he  sought 
from  the  most  eminent  physicians,  did  much  to  relieve  her  suf 
ferings — did  all  that  mortal  aid  could  do.  He  studied  her 
case.  He  described  her  symptoms  to  his  friend,  Dr.  Benjamin 
Rush,  of  Philadelphia,  and  concerted  with  him  a  new  treat 
ment.  But  nothing  availed  to  stay  the  ravages  of  the  disease. 
He  proposed  at  one  time  to  leave  Congress,  that  he  might  de 
vote  himself  exclusively  to  attending  upon  her.  She  besought 
him  not  to  do  so,  and  he  remained  in  Philadelphia  till  her  dis 
ease  assumed  a  form  that  threatened  speedy  dissolution.  She 
became,  at  length,  an  object  most  pitiable  to  contemplate ;  and 
in  the  spring  of  1794,  death  relieved  her  sufferings,  and  de 
prived  of  their  mistress  the  heart  and  home  of  Aaron  Burr. 
They  had  lived  together  twelve  years — twelve  happy  and  tri 
umphant  years. 

Burr  was  not  given  to  sentiment.  It  was  his  principle  not 
to  mourn  over  an  irrevocable  calamity.  "  The  best  compliment 
you  can  pay  me,"  he  used  to  say  to  his  wife,  "  is  to  be  cheerful 
while  I  am  absent."  If  he  did  not  visibly  grieve  over  her 
death,  to  the  last  day  of  his  life  he  spoke  of  her  in  terms  of 
emphatic  and  unqualified  admiration.  Among  the  very  last 
words  he  ever  spoke,  was  a  sentence  like  this  :  "  The  mother 
of  my  Theo.  was  the  best  woman  and  finest  lady  I  have  ever 
known." 

His  daughter,  a  rosy  little  girl  of  eleven,  was  all  that  now 
made  his  house  a  home.  From  her  infancy  his  heart  and 
mind  had  been  interested  in  that  most  fascinating  of  employ 
ments,  the  culture  of  a  being  tenderly  beloved.  With  what 
aiwearied  assiduity  he  pursued  the  sweet  vocation !  His  let 


A    SENATOR.  201 

were,  written  from  his  senatorial  desk  at  Philadelphia,  snow 
that  his  home  thoughts  were  divided  between  the  sick  mother 
and  the  studious  child ;  and  when  the  mother's  sufferings  were 
over,  the  daughter's  improvement  absorbed  his  care.  He  pur 
sued  this  darling  object  intelligently.  "  Cursed  effects  of 
fashionable  education !"  he  writes  to  his  wife,  in  Theodosia'a 
tenth  year,  "  of  which  both  sexes  are  the  advocates,  and 
yours  eminently  the  victims.  If  I  could  foresee  that  Theo. 
would  become  a  mere  fashionable  woman,  with  all  the  attend 
ant  frivolity  and  vacuity  of  mind,  adorned  with  whatever 
grace  and  allurement,  I  would  earnestly  pray  God  to  take  her 
forthwith  hence.  But  I  yet  hope,  by  her,  to  convince  the 
world  what  neither  sex  appear  to  believe — that  women  have 
souls !" 

He  appears  to  have  gone  to  the  opposite  extreme.  In  her 
tenth  year  she  was  reading  Horace  and  Terence,  in  the  orig 
inal  Latin,  learning  the  Greek  grammar,  speaking  French, 
studying  Gibbon,  practicing  on  the  piano,  taking  lessons  in 
dancing,  and  learning  to  skate.  Like  all  her  race,  she  was 
precocious,  and  was  accounted  a  prodigy,  and  she  really  was  a 
child  of  superior  endowments  ;  but  no  girl  often  could  pursue 
such  a  course  of  study  without  injury.  Doubtless,  the  deli 
cacy  of  her  health,  in  after  years,  was  due  to  this  excess  of 
ktudy  in  childhood.  As  a  child,  however,  she  seemed  to 
thrive  upon  the  too  luxurious  diet ;  for  though  she  had  the 
family  diminutiveness,  she  was  a  plump,  pretty,  and  blooming 
girl.  The  moral  precocity,  which  is  so  much  more  deadly  than 
mental,  she  escaped,  as  it  appears  she  told  fibs,  begged  off 
from  practicing,  and  was  excessively  fond  of  a  holiday  ;  which 
may  have  kept  Horace  and  Gibbon  from  destroying  her.  The 
plan  of  her  education  was  not  merely  devised  by  her  father, 
but  he  personally  aided  in  carrying  out  every  part  of  it.  He 
explained  her  lessons,  he  gave  minute  directions  to  her  nu 
merous  instructors,  he  would  have  nothing  learned  by  rote,  he 
encouraged  her  with  commendation,  he  gently  ridiculed  or 
sharply  rebuked  her  indolence.  When  he  was  in  Philadelphia, 
he  required  her  to  write  to  him  frequently.  He  replied  as 
tften,  mentioning  each  of  her  mistakes  in  spelling  and  gram 

9* 


202  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURL 

mar,  remarking  upon  the  writing  and  style  of  her  last  letter 
comparing  it  with  former  efforts,  and  awarding  praise  or 
blame,  as  he  thought  she  deserved.  His  letters  to  her  are 
very  kind,  very  thoughtful,  very  ingenious,  often  very  wise 
and  good. 

Burr  inherited  the  true  pedagogical  instinct.  One  of  his 
epistles  he  concludes  thus :  "  Let  me  see  how  handsomely  you 
can  subscribe  your  name  in  your  next  letter,  about  this  size." 
In  another,  he  tells  her  how  much  pleasure  it  would  give  him 
if  she  could  contrive  to  lug  into  her  letters  occasionally  a  scrap 
of  Terence,  apropos.  Sometimes  he  exults  over  the  correct 
ness  of  her  last  letter,  telling  her  he  had  showed  it  to  Dr. 
Rush,  or  some  other  friend,  who  thought  it  must  have  been 
written  by  a  girl  of  sixteen.  He  reminds  her  to  sit  up  straight, 
else  she  will  go  into  a  consumption ;  and  then  "  farewell  papa, 
farewell  pleasure,  farewell  life."  He  gives  her  the  most  mi 
nute  directions  respecting  the  style  and  arrangement  of  her 
letters ;  tells  her  that  he  never  permits  one  of  hers  to  remain 
unanswered  a  single  day,  and  demands  of  her  the  same  promp 
titude. 

The  moral  advice  which  he  gives  her  is,  most  of  it,  very  excel 
lent.  He  insists  upon  her  treating  her  governess  with  the  most 
perfect  respect  and  consideration.  ''Remember,"  he  says,  "  that 
one  in  the  situation  of  madame  has  a  thousand  things  to  fret 
her  temper  ;  and  you  know  that  one  out  of  humor  for  any  cause 
whatever,  is  apt  to  vent  it  on  every  person  that  happens  to  be 
in  the  way.  We  must  learn  to  bear  these  things ;  and,  let 
me  tell  you,  that  you  will  always  feel  much  better,  much  hap 
pier,  for  having  borne  with  serenity  the  spleen  of  any  one, 
than  if  you  had  returned  spleen  for  spleen."  Nothing  could 
be  better  than  that.  In  the  same  letter  he  remarks :  "  I  have 
often  seen  madame  at  table,  and  other  situations,  pay  you  the 
utmost  attention,  offer  you  twenty  civilities,  while  you  ap- 
l  eared  scarcely  sensible  that  she  was  speaking  to  you  ;  or,  at 
the  most,  replied  with  a  cold  remercie,  without  even  a  look  ol 
satisfaction  or  complacency.  A  moment's  reflection  will  con 
vince  you  that  this  conduct  will  be  naturally  construed  into  ar 
-ogance ;  as  if  you  thought  that  all  attention  was  due  to  von. 


A     SENATOR.  203 

and  as  if  yo  i  felt  above  showing  the  least  to  any  body.  I 
know  that  you  abhor  such  sentiments,  and  that  you  are  inca 
pable  of  being  actuated  by  them.  Yet  you  expose  yourself  to 
the  censure  without  intending  or  knowing  it.  I  believe  you 
will  in  future  avoid  it.  Observe  how  Natalie  replies  to  the 
smallest  civility  which  is  offered  to  her."  That,  too,  is  sound 
morality. 

But  there  is,  occasionally,  a  passage  in  his  letters  to  her 
which  has  the  Chesterfieldian  taint.  The  worst  example  ol 
this  kind  is  the  following :  "  In  case  you  should  dine  in  com 
pany  with  Mrs. ,  I  will  apprize  you  of  one  circumstance,  by 

a  trifling  attention  to  which  you  may  elevate  yourself  in  her 
esteem.  She  is  a  great  advocate  for  a  very  plain,  rather  ab 
stemious  diet  in  children,  as  you  may  see  by  her  conduct  with 
Miss  Elizabeth.  Be  careful,  therefore,  to  eat  of  but  one  dish ; 
that  a  plain  roast  or  boiled :  little  or  no  gravy  or  butter,  and 
very  sparingly  of  dessert  or  fruit :  not  more  than  half  a  glass 
of  wine ;  and  if  more  of  any  thing  to  eat  or  drink  is  offered, 
decline  it.  If  they  ask  a  reason — Papa  thinks  it  not  good  for 
we,  is  the  best  that  can  be  given." 

Theodosia  rewarded  her  father's  solicitude  by  becoming 
the  best  educated  woman  of  her  time  and  country,  as  well 
as  one  of  the  most  estimable.  She  never,  of  course,  com 
pleted  the  conquest  of  Latin  or  Greek,  but  French  she  made 
entirely  her  own  ;  and  wrote  an  English  style  that  could  be 
elegantly  playful,  or  correctly  strong,  as  the  subject  required. 
On  one  occasion,  during  her  father's  public  life,  she  translated, 
for  his  use,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  into  French. 
$he  also,  at  his  request,  undertook  the  translation  of  one  of 
.Bentham's  works  from  French  into  English,  and  partly  exe 
cuted  it.  Her  father  never  ceased,  while  she  lived,  to  direct 
and  urge  the  further  improvement  of  her  mind.  From  the 
deepest  abyss  of  his  misfortunes,  he  could  still  say  to  her 
'*  Be  what  my  heart  desires,  and  it  will  console  me  for  all  the 
evils  of  life."  And  what  a  daughter  was  she  to  him  !  From 
the  age  of  fourteen,  the  engaging  mistress  of  his  household 
the  companion  of  his  leisure,  the  friend  of  his  mind!  In  othei 
days,  his  eloquent,  persistent,  fearless,  indomitable  champion? 


£04  LIFE     OF     AAEON    BUEB. 

Colonel  Stone,  in  his  Life  of  Brant,  the  Indian  3hief,  gh  es 
as  a  pleasant  glimpse  of  Theodosia  Burr  in  her  fourteenth 
year.  She  was  then  a  grown  woman,  and  reigned  supreme 
over  her  father's  house  during  his  long  absence  at  the  seat  of 
government.  Brant,  during  one  of  the  closing  years  of  Burr's 
senatorship,  visited  Philadelphia,  where,  for  some  time,  the 
magniticent  Indian  was  a  fashionable  lion.  Colonel  Burr  gave 
him  a  dinner  party,  which  Volney,  Talleyrand,  and  other  nota- 
•ilities  attended.  The  incidents  of  that  entertainment  used 
3  be  related  by  Burr  for  forty  years  after  they  occurred,  and 
they  have  been  communicated  to  me  almost  in  his  own  words. 
But,  unfortunately,  the  chief's  English,  though  innocent,  and 
infinitely  amusing  to  the  guests,  can  not  be  repeated  to  a 
fastidious  public,  and,  therefore,  the  humors  of  that  banquet 
must  remain  for  ever  unrecorded.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  the 
Frenchmen  were  delighted  with  the  lion,  who  roared  his  best 
for  their  pleasure.  Before  Brant's  leaving  Philadelphia  for 
New  York,  Colonel  Burr  gave  him  a  note  of  introduction  to 
his  daughter,  in  which  he  requested  her  to  show  him  every 
attention. 

"Miss  Theodosia,"  says  Colonel  Stone,  who  derived  the  in 
formation  from  Burr  himself,  "  received  the  forest-chief  with 
all  the  courtesy  and  hospitality  suggested  ;  and  performed  the 
honors  of  her  father's  house  in  a  manner  that  must  have  been 
as  gratifying  to  her  absent  parent  as  it  was  creditable  to  her 
self  Among  other  attentions,  she  gave  him  a  dinner  party, 
selecting  for  her  guests  some  of  the  most  eminent  gentlemen 
in  the  city,  among  whom  were  Bishop  Moore  and  Doctors 
Bard  and  Hosack.  In  writing  to  her  father  upon  the  subject, 
she  gave  a  long  and  sprightly  account  of  the  entertainment. 
She  said  that,  in  making  the  preliminary  arrangements,  she 
had  been  somewhat  at  a  loss  in  the  selection  of  such  dishes  as 
would  probably  suit  the  palate  of  her  principal  guest.  Being 
&  savage  warrior,  and  in  view  of  the  many  tales  she  had 
keard,  of 

" '  The  cannibals  that  each  other  eat, 

The  anthropophagi,  and  men  whose  heads 
Do  grow  beneath  their  shoulders,' 


A     SENATOR.  205 

she  added,  sportively,  that  she  had  a  mind  to  lay  the  hospital 
under  contribution  for  a  human  head  to  be  served  up  like  a 
boar's  head  in  ancient  hall  barbaric.  But,  after  all,  she  found 
him  a  most  Christian  and  civilized  guest  in  his  manners." 

During  these  years  of  greatness,  Colonel  Burr,  like  most 
other  persons  in  his  sphere,  was  an  owner  of  slaves,  who  were 
employed  as  household  servants.  That  he  was  a  kind  and  con 
siderate  master  to  them,  his  letters  to  Theodosia,  and  their 
tetters  to  him,  give  touching  evidence.  "  Poor  Tom,"  he 
writes  of  a  servant  who  had  met  with  an  accident,  "  I  hope 
you  take  good  care  of  him.  If  he  is  confined  by  his  leg,  he 
must  pay  the  greater  attention  to  his  reading  and  writing."  One 
of  his  letters  from  Philadelphia  to  Theodosia,  concludes  thus : 
"  Alexis  often  bids  me  to  send  you  some  polite  and  respectful 
message  on  his  part,  which  I  have  hitherto  omitted.  He  is  a 
faithful,  good  boy ;  upon  our  return  home  he  hopes  you  will 
teach  him  to  read."  Another  letter  alludes  pleasantly  to  two 
of  his  servants.  "  Mat's  child,"  he  tells  Theodosia,  "  shall  not 
be  christened  until  you  shall  be  pleased  to  indicate  the  time, 
place,  manner,  and  name.  I  have  promised  Tom  that  he  shall 
take  me  to  Philadelphia,  if  there  be  sleighing.  The  poor  fel 
low  is  almost  crazy  about  it.  He  is  importuning  all  the  goda 
for  snow." 

He  corresponded  with  his  servants,  when  away  from  home. 
Their  letters  to  him  are  very  artless  and  pleasing.  "  We  are 
happy  to  hear,"  says  "  Peggy"  in  one  of  her  letters,  "  that  Sam 
and  George  and  the  horses  are  in  good  order,  and  all  the  fam- 
ilv  gives  their  love  to  them."  Another  of  Peggy's  epistles 
concludes  thus :  "  But,  master,  I  wish  to  beg  a  favor  of  you ; 
please  to  grant  it.  I  have  found  there  is  a  day-school,  kept 
by  an  elderly  man  and  his  wife,  near  to  our  house,  and  if  mas 
ter  is  willing  that  I  should  go  to  it  for  two  months,  I  think  it 
would  be  of  great  service  to  me,  and  at  the  same  time  I  will 
not  neglect  my  work  in  the  house,  if  you  please,  sir."  Peggy 
received  an  immediate  answer,  granting  her  request.  She  re- 
slies  in  a  few  days  :  "  I  go  to  the  school,  since  master  is  wili 
ng,  and  I  like  the  teacher  very  much.  He  pays  great  atten 
tion  to  my  learning,  and  I  have  teached  Nancy  her  letter?  ever 


206  LIFE     OP     AARON     BURR. 

since  you  have  been  gone,  which  I  think  will  be  of  as  muck 
service  to  her  as  if  she  went  to  school.  We  are  all  well  at 
present,  and  I  hope  that  you  are  the  same."  She  tells  her 
master,  in  the  same  letter,  that  there  has  been  a  report  in  the 
>aper  that  he  had  been  wounded  in  a  duel,  and  that  the  family 
were  all  very  uneasy  about  it,  though  the  story  was  not  be- 
ieved  in  the  town.  He  replies  immediately  that  he  is  per 
fectly  well,  and  has  had  no  quarrel  with  any  one.  He  urges 
her  to  go  to  school  punctually,  thanks  her  for  teaching  Nancy, 
and  says  he  shall  soon  go  home  and  give  them  all  New  Years' 
presents. 

All  this  is  very  amiable.  There  never  lived,  indeed,  a  more 
completely  amiable  man  than  Aaron  Burr.  Generous,  thought 
ful  for  the  pleasure  of  others,  careless  of  his  own,  a  pleasant, 
composed,  invincibly  polite  person,  credulous  even,  easily 
taken  in  by  plausible  sharpers,  but  with  these  softer  qualities 
relieved  by  courage,  tact,  and  industry — who  could  have  fore- 
,8een  for  such  a  character  the  destiny  he  encountered,  the  in 
famy  that  blackens  his  name  ? 

But,  in  this  difficult  world,  in  this  justly-ordered  universe, 
to  be  amiable  is  not  enough. 

An  anecdote,  related  with  great  animation  by  himself,  of 
this  period  of  his  life,  will  suffice  to  indicate  one  of  his  faults 
against  society.  He  was  sitting  in  his  library  reading  one 
day.  A  lady  entered  without  his  perceiving  her,  and  going 
up  softly  behind  his  chair,  gave  him  a  slap  on  the  cheek,  say 
ing,  "  Come,  tell  me,  what  little  French  girl,  pray,  have  you 
bad  here  ?"  The  abruptness  of  the  question,  and  the  positive 
manner  of  the  lady,  deceived  him,  and  he  doubted  not  she 
had  made  the  discovery.  He  admitted  the  fact.  Whereupon, 
his  fair  inquisitress  burst  into  loud  laughter  at  the  success  of 
her  artifice,  which  she  was  induced  to  play  off  upon  him  from 
the  mere  circumstance  of  having  smelt  musk  in  the  room. 

Upon  this  and  other  points  there  will  be  time  to  enlarge 
when  we  reach  the  expiatory  years  of  his  life.  At  present,  w« 
taust  attend  to  the  affairs  of  the  nation. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

THE    ERA    OF    BAD    FEELIN&. 

fHB  THKKB  PERIODS  OF  OITR  HISTORY  —  PARTIES  BKFOBE  THE  REVOLUTION  •-  PARTIES 
AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION —  EFFECT  OF  THK  FsiNCH  REVOLUTION  UPON  AMERICAN 
POLITICS  —  HAMILTON  —  JEFFERSON  —  THE  TONE  OF  SOCIETY  ON  JEFFERSON'S  RE 
TURN  FROM  FRANCE  — THE  DIFFERENCES  BETWEEN  HAMILTON  AND  JEFFERSON  — 
EKB  OF  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PARTY  — JOHN  ADAMS  — PUBLIC  EXCITEMENT  IN  1798. 

IT  was  the  fortune  of  Aaron  Burr  to  contribute,  in  a  re 
markable  manner,  to  the  first  triumph  of  his  party.  That  the 
reader,  not  fresh  in  the  early  history  of  his  country,  may  un 
derstand  the  importance  of  that  triumph,  it  is  necessary  that 
he  should  be  informed  or  reminded  of  the  state  of  parties,  and 
the  feeling  of  the  country,  and  of  the  character  of  certain  lead 
ing  persons  who  nourished  at  that  time.  This  chapter,  then, 
is  to  be  a  digression — to  be  skipped  by  a  reader  who  is  in 
haste. 

"  Whig  and  Tory  belong  to  natural  history,"  Mr.  Jefferson 
used  to  say.  This  truth,  that  free  communities  naturally  di 
vide  into  two  parties,  one  in  favor  of  keeping  things  as  they 
are,  the  other  strenuous  for  making  them  better  than  they  are, 
simplifies  the  study  of  political  history,  and  should  always  be 
borne  in  mind  by  the  student.  It  is  not  an  infallable  guide 
through  the  labyrinth  of  party  politics,  but  it  greatly  assists 
the  groping  explorer. 

An  historian  might  divide  our  political  history  into  three 
periods.  The  first  began  with  the  adoption  of  the  Con 
stitution,  and  ended  with  the  election  of  Jefferson  ;  a  period 
which,  in  the  recent  language  of  Mr.  Seward,  "  gave  to  the 
country  a  complete  emancipation  of  the  masses  from  the  dom 
ination  of  classes."  The  second  began  with  Jefferson,  and 
ended  with  the  annexation  of  Texas.  This  was  the  period  of 
peaceful  democratic  rule,  the  fruit  of  Jefferson's  ideas  and 


208  LIFE     OP     AAEON     BUER. 

Burr's  tactics.  The  third  period  began  with  Texa»,  and  will 
end  with  the  final  settlement  of  the  slavery  problem.  We 
have  no  w  to  do  only  with  that  eventful  twelve  years  when  the 
new  democratic  ideas  contended  with  old  Custom  and  old 
Thought  in  this  country.  It  was  eminently  a  period  of  "  bad 
eeling ;"  as  periods  are  apt  to  be  in  which  narrow  opinions 
and  the  narrow  virtues  that  grow  out  of  them,  are  rudely  as 
sailed  by  the  larger,  half-comprehended  ideas  of  a  greater  time 
coming.  To  give  an  adequate  picture  of  that  eventful  and 
most  interesting  time  would  require  a  volume,  and  a  genius 
A  few  glimpses  are  all  that  can  be  afforded  here. 

Until  George  III.  began  to  reign  (1760),  the  political  parties 
of  the  American  colonies  were  about  the  same  as  those  of 
England.  John  Adams,  who  could  himself  remember  as  far 
back  as  1745,  has  a  great  deal  to  say,  in  his  diaries  and  letters, 
ibout  parties  and  partizans  in  America  before  the  Revolution. 
Besides  Whigs  and  Tories,  he  records  there  was  a  party  for 
the  Pretender  in  the  colonies.  One  of  his  letters  contains  the 
following  passage  :  "  You  say,  our  divisions  began  with  Fed 
eralism  and  anti-Federalism.  Alas !  they  began  with  humar, 
nature  ;  they  have  existed  in  America  from  its  first  plantation. 
In  every  colony  divisions  always  prevailed.  In  New  York, 
Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  Massachusetts,  and  all  the  rest,  a 
court  and  country  party  have  always  contended.  Whig  anJ 
Tory  disputed  very  sharply  before  the  Revolution,  and  in 
every  step  during  the  Revolution.  Every  measure  in  Con 
gress,  from  1774  to  1787  inclusively,  was  disputed  with  acri* 
mony,  and  decided  by  as  small  majorities  as  any  question  is 
decided  in  these  days." 

In  another  letter  of  Mr.  Adams's,  the  following  interesting 
etatement  occurs :  "  It  was  reported  and  believed  (in  the 
colonies)  that  George  II.  had  uniformly  resisted  the  importu 
nities  of  ministers,  governors,  planters,  and  projectors,  to  in- 
iuce  him  to  extend  the  system  of  taxation  and  revenue  in 
America,  by  saying,  that '  he  did  not  understand  the  colonies  , 
he  wished  their  prosperity.  They  appeared  to  be  happy  at 
present ;  and  he  would  not  consent  to  any  innovations,  the 
consequences  of  which  he  could  not  foresee.'" 


THE    EBA     OF     BAD     FEELING.  209 

Sensible  king !  But,  early  in  the  next  reign,  the  "  minis 
ters,  governors,  planters,  and  projectors"  began  to  have  their 
way ;  and  from  that  moment  began  the  history  of  parties  in 
America.  How  slow  the  loyal  colonists  were  to  resist,  or 
even  to  remonstrate !  "  No  king,"  wrote  Joseph  Reed,  in 
1774,  "  ever  had  more  loyal  subjects,  nor  any  country  more 
affectionate  colonists  than  the  Americans  were.  I,  who  am 
but  a  young  man,  remember  when  the  king  was  always  men 
tioned  with  a  respect  approaching  to  adoration,  and  to  be  an 
Englishman  was  alone  a  sufficient  recommendation  to  any 
office  or  civility.  But  I  confess,  with  the  greatest  concern, 
that  those  happy  days  seem  swiftly  passing  away." 

In  the  year  preparatory  of  the  Revolution,  Whig  and  Tory 
were  words  of  meaning.  Shall  we  submit  ?  Shall  we  re 
sist  ?  The  issue  was  marked.  Beginning  with  a  minority  of 
one,  the  party  for  resistance  gathered  strength  with  every 
new  aggression,  till,  in  1776,  two  thirds  of  the  native  colo 
nists,  as  John  Adams  computed,  were  in  favor  of  independ 
ency.  Two  thirds  !  not  more  ;  as  any  student  of  the  period 
will  soon  discern.  In  1777,  it  is  questionable  if  the  Whigs 
were  even  in  a  majority.  We  read  without  surprise,  for  hu 
man  nature  is  human  nature  even  in  the  most  heroic  times, 
that  when  the  British  army  was  approaching,  people  hastened 
to  nail  a  rag  of  Tory  red  to  their  front  doors,  and  when  the 
patriot  army  marched  by,  the  rags  of  the  whole  region  turned 
blue. 

The  war  ended.  Blue  was  in  the  ascendant,  and  Red  was 
nowhere.  The  active  rich  Tories  fled  ;  the  active  poor  To 
ries,  cowed  and  suppliant,  became,  as  we  have  seen,  a  bone  of 
contention  with  the  exultant  Whigs.  Human  nature  asserted 
itself,  and  again  there  were  two  parties  in  the  country.  In 
the  numberless  suits  and  questions  that  arose  in  the  State  of 
New  York  respecting  the  property  and  rights  of  the  ex-Tories, 
Hamilton  and  his  Schuylers  were  the  champions  of  a  defeated, 
a  prostrate  faction.  Burr  and  the  Clintons  were  the  defend 
ers  of  the  doctrine  that  to  the  victors  belonged  the  spoils  of 
/ictory. 

Next  arose  the  great  question  of  the  acceptance  or  rejeo 


flO  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

tion  of  the  Constitution.  After  a  period  of  doubt  and  strug 
gle,  the  intensity  of  which  the  average  modern  reader  can 
know  nothing  about,  because  the  historian  has  not  yet 
emerged  who  can  tell  the  story,  the  Constitution  was  ac 
cepted,  and  set  in  motion.  The  battle  then  subsided,  but  did 
not  cease.  The  anti-Federalists  still  clamored  for  amendments. 
They  thought  the  central  government  too  strong,  too  impos 
ing,  too  British.  It  reduced  the  importance  of  the  States, 
A  Governor,  who  ha d  held  his  head  high  above  all  men's,  was 
an  insignificant  official  in  comparison  with  the  PRESIDENT  OF 
THE  UNITED  STATES!  The  Federalists,  on  the  contrary,  thought 
the  government  fatally  inefficient.  It  became,  however,  the 
general  desire,  that  the  Constitution,  such  as  it  was,  should 
have,  at  least,  a  fair  trial.  With  that  feeling,  Washington 
1.  irned  his  back  upon  the  home  where  he  was  alone  a  contented 
man,  and  journeyed  with  heavy  heart  to  New  York  to  organ 
ize  the  new  government. 

It  must  be  mentioned  that  the  country  was  still  very  En 
glish.  Social  distinctions  were  marked  and  undisputed,  and 
a  gentleman  was  a  gentleman.  There  were  great  land-owners 
in  the  interior  who  held  the  position  in  society  that  country 
gentlemen  now  do  in  England.  They  had  numerous  tenants ; 
they  were  justices  of  the  peace ;  they  were  elected,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  to  the  legislature ;  they  were  the  gentry  of  the 
country,  to  whom  the  country,  without  a  rebellious  thought, 
took  off  its  hat.  "  Society"  in  the  cities  was  exclusive.  It 
consisted  of  a  few  great  families,  who  admitted  within  their 
circle  only  officials  and  other  consequential  persons.  A  gentle 
man  was  really  an  imposing  figure  at  that  day.  Years  after  the 
Revolution,  John  Hancock  dressed  in  a  style  that  now,  even 
upon  the  stage,  we  should  think  rather  extravagant.  Upon 
his  powdered  and  pig-tailed  head,  he  wore  a  cap  of  red  velvet, 
which  covered,  without  concealing,  one  of  white  cambric ;  the 
cambric  being  turned  over  the  velvet,  and  forming  a  border 
two  inches  wide.  A  blue  damask  gown,  lined  with  silk,  a 
white  stock,  a  white  satin  embroidered  waistcoat,  black  satir. 
breeches,  white  silk  stockings,  red  morocco  slippers,  silvei 
buckles  at  knee  and  instep,  were  other  articles  of  his  attir« 


THE    ERA     OF     BAD     FEELING.  211 

A.bo  /e  all  there  was  in  his  manner  a  mingled  dignity  and  sweet 
ness,  which  was  not  rare  at  that  time,  but  the  very  tradition 
of  which  is  now  scarcely  known  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States.  Politeness  was  one  of  the  exclusive,  superficial  good 
things  which  democracy  had  rudely  to  destroy,  in  order  that 
a  deeper  and  better  politeness  might  become  possible  and  uni 
versal  /  a  politeness  without  any  lies  in  it. 

The  power  of  the  "  gentry"  was,  of  course,  lessened  by  the 
Revolution.  They  had  never  been  a  numerous  class  in  the 
colonies ;  and  tbe  Revolution  ruined  perhaps  one  half  of 
them.  The  peace  drove  a  large  number  to  Canada  and  En 
gland.  The  young  nation,  therefore,  over  which  Washington 
presided,  was  a  nation  of  rustics,  but  rustics  who  had,  as  yet, 
but  dim  perceptions  of  their  rights  and  power,  rustics  habitu 
ated  to  take  off  their  hats  to  gentlemen  who  were  got  up  re 
gardless  of  expense,  and  who  rode  about  in  chariots  drawn  by 
four  horses,  or  by  six. 

The  French  Revolution  woke  the  dozing  giant. 

The  first  delirium  ovei,  the  French  had  to  fight  a  continent 
in  arms,  and  during  that  enormous  contest  there  could  not  be 
a  neutral  heart.  American  politics,  in  those  years,  resolved 
themselves  into  this  all-including  question,  Which  side  shall 
toe  take  f  Or,  which  nation  shall  our  young  republic  adopt 
as  ally  and  exemplar,  France  or  England  ? 

Fear  intensified  the  excitement  with  which  this  question 
was  discussed  ;  for  the  nation  was  not  yet  powerful ;  it  was  a 
boy  looking  on  while  giants  wrestled.  Every  one  feared  for 
the  stability  of  the  new,  the  untried  government.  Some 
thought  it  would  dissolve  into  anarchy ;  others,  that  it  would 
degenerate  into  monarchy;  some  lived  in  terror  of  war; 
vthers  foreboded  national  bankruptcy.  Nothing  but  an  all- 
pervading  and  constantly-operating  fear  could,  I  think,  have 
wrought  up  the  two  parties  into  such  a  frenzy.  This  genera 
tion  has  witnessed  the  landing  on  these  shores,  amid  the 
salute  of  a  thousand  guns,  and  the  cheers  of  two  hundred  thou 
sand  excited  spectators,  of  the  orator  Kossuth.  From  that 
great  furore,  judge  of  the  nation's  delirium  when,  to  its  natural 
lympathy  with  a  beloved  nation  struggling  against  despots 


212  LIFE     OP     AARON    BURR. 

tvas  added  a  fear  of  being  drawn  into  the  maelstrom  of  their 
prodigious  warfare.  The  ardent  souls,  I  know,  desired  './his, 
as  the  same  temperaments  were  for  drawing  the  sword  in  de 
fense  of  Hungary.  But  the  nation  knew  better ;  knew  that 
peace  was  its  only  policy.  In  time,  too,  came  slights,  insults, 
injuries,  first  from  one  belligerent,  then  from  the  other,  tc 
mingle  rage  with  the  other  inflamed  passions. 

At  the  seat  of  government,  during  this  excitement,  there 
were  four  men  of  more  importance  than  any  others,  as  well 
from  their  great  characters  as  their  great  places.  These  were 
Washington,  Hamilton,  Adams,  and  Jefferson.  Of  Washing 
ton  I  need  not  speak.  For  sixty  years,  the  object  of  the  un- 
discriminating  eulogy  of  politicians  and  rhetoricians,  who  have 
sought  to  use  his  vast  popularity* for  their  own  purposes,  the 
character  of  the  man  has  been  so  obscured,  that  to  only  the 
most  studious  eyes  can  it  now  become  discernible.  By  claim 
ing  for  him  every  excellence  known  to  human  nature,  his  true 
glory  is  sacrificed,  and  the  benefit  of  his  great  example  squan 
dered.  But  I  am  not  to  speak  of  him,  and  need  not,  for  the 
part  he  played  in  this  drama  was  more  passive  than  active. 
He  was  the  Rock  to  which  the  ship  of  State  was  moored.  The 
great  measures  of  his  administration  were  devised  by  Hamil 
ton,  his  first  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  who  was  the  real  ruler 
of  the  country  during  all  these  twelve  years'  of  democracy's 
struggle  for  supremacy. 

Alexander  Hamilton  was  a  shining  specimen  of  a  class  of 
characters  which  Great  Britain  produces  in  numbers :  men  of 
administrative  ability,  of  active,  suggestive  intellects,  but  of 
understandings  that  will  not  admit  a  revolutionary  idea — that 
is,  an  idea  really  in  advance  of  their  time.  These  men  wield 
the  tools  of  government  with  dexterity  ;  with  pertinacity  they 
cling  to  the  old  methods.  Hamilton,  it  must  be  ever  remem 
bered,  was  no  American ;  he  never  understood  America  ;  and, 
as  he  himself  confessed,  he  was  "  not  the  man  for  America." 
The  English  government  was  his  ideal;  his  dream  was  to 
nake  America  a  larger  and  better  England.  He  was  for  a 

*  Ruiiis  King  wrste  to  Hamilton  from  London,  that  the  most  popular  me* 
n  England  were,  first,  George  III.,  and,  next  to  him,  George  Washington, 


THE     ERA     OF     BAD     FEELING.  213 

strong,  a  regular,  an  imposing  government ;  he  supported 
General  Washington  in  his  levees,  his  state  dinners,  his 
ppeeches  to  Congress,  his  birth-day  celebrations,  and  the  other 
ibrms  which  reminded  the  Republican  party  of  a  royal  court. 
He  thought  the  interested  support  of  the  wealthy  classes  wag 
necessary  to  a  strong  government.  He  was  exactly  as  much 
of  a  Democrat  as  George  III.  or  William  Pitt.  In  the  people 
he  had  no  faith ;  and  thought  it  vain  to  attempt  to  convince 
them  by  argument  and  fact ;  the  mob  was  an  unreasoning 
child,  to  be  coaxed,  flattered,  used,  and,  above  all,  governed. 
This  enormous  BLASPHEMY  against  God's  image  he  repeats, 
in  great  variety  of  phrase,  in  his  private  letters.  "  You  are 
your  own  worst  enemies,"  he  once  said,  in  a  stump  speech,  to 
the  people  of  this  city. 

The  basis  of  Hamilton's  moral  character  was  noble  and  dis 
interested  ;  no  man  more  honorable  in  his  feelings  than  he  ; 
none  more  generous  or  more  kind.  He  loved  the  country  of 
his  adoption,  and  would  have  died  to  save  it ;  that  is,  to  con- 
vert  it  permanently  to  his  way  of  thinking.  He  was  confident 
that  the  "  crazy  old  hulk  of  a  Constitution,"  as  he  used  to 
term  it,  could  not  last.  A  crisis  was  approaching.  When  it 
arrived,  then  the  Federalists  would  save  their  country  by  giv 
ing  it  a  government  that  could  govern.  But  Hamilton  was 
an  honorable  man  :  he  would  stand,  he  said,  resolutely  by  the 
Constitution  till  the  old  hulk  did  go  down ;  it  should  have  the 
fairest  of  fair  trials.  He  was  morbidly  in  earnest.  Gouverneur 
Morris,  who  loved  the  man,  says,  in  one  of  his  letters,  "  Our 
Door  friend,  Hamilton,  bestrode  his  hobby,  to  the  great  an- 
uoyance  of  his  friends."  Hamilton  had  no  great  hold  upon  the 
people  except  as  the  man  trusted  and  preferred  by  Washing 
ton.  I  think  Washington  liked  him  better  than  any  man  in 
the  United  States ;  for  Hamilton,  too,  was  an  honest  man,  and 
he  had,  what  the  President  had  not,  a  rapidly-suggestive  rnind, 
and  a  fluent  tongue.  Honest,  I  say  ;  but  not  honest  as  Wash 
ington  was  honest.  In  the  maddest  party  contentions,  Wash- 
jigton's  integrity  was  never  shaken,  nor  questioned,  except 
by  fools.  But  in  the  strife  of  parties,  Hamilton  did,  more  than 
more  than  twice,  advise  measures  which  no  man  will 


814  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

now  defend.  He  had  the  foible,  so  common  in  this  country 
after  the  Revolution,  of  valuing  himself  chiefly  upon  his  mili 
tary  talents.  He  had  also  the  soldierly  weakness  with  regard 
to  women.  His  passions  were  warm,  and  he  indulged  them ; 
but  not,  as  is  often  whispered,  and  sometimes  printed,  to  the 
extent  of  profligacy.  He  loved  lovely  women,  and  lovely  wo 
men  loved  him.  In  one  notorious  instance,  probably  in  other 
instances,  his  passions  led  him  astray. 

The  full-length  portrait  of  Hamilton,  painted  by  Trumbull 
for  the  city  of  New  York,  which  used  to  adorn  the  old  Ex 
change,  and  was  snatched,  damaged,  from  the  great  fire  ot 
1835,  is  preserved  at  the  Library  of  the  New  York  Historical 
Society.  The  picture  is  precious,  and  should  be  either  re 
stored  or  copied.  Within  these  few  years,  Mrs.  Hamilton 
stood  before  it,  and  pronounced  it  "  a  good  likeness  of  the 
general."  On  the  torn  canvas,  we  discern  a  slight,  erect, 
under-sized,  elegant  figure,  with  a  bright,  rosy  face ;  a  man, 
one  would  think,  more  fitted  to  shine  on  the  battle-field  and 
in  the  drawing-room,  than  in  an  office  with  a  hundred  clerks 
around  him.* 

A  writer  who  saw  Hamilton,  describes  him  in  these  words  • 
"  He  was  expected  one  day  at  dinner,  and  was  the  last  who 
came.  When  he  entered  the  room,  it  was  apparent,  from  the 
respectful  attention  of  the  company,  that  he  was  a  distin 
guished  individual.  He  was  dressed  in  a  blue  coat,  with 
bright  buttons ;  the  skirts  of  his  coat  were  unusually  long. 
He  wore  a  white  waistcoat,  black  silk  small-clothes,  white  silk 
stockings.  The  gentleman  who  received  him  as  a  guest,  in 
troduced  him  to  such  of  the  company  as  were  strangers  to 

*  The  bust  of  Hamilton  by  Cerracci  in  the  Philadelphia  Academy  of  Pine 
Arts  shows  us  a  different  face.  The  features  are  good  enough,  but  not  liber 
ally  disposed ;  a  somewhat  contracted  countenance,  with  slightly  overhang* 
ng  forehead,  and  a  mass  of  propelling  force  behind  the  ears.  There  is  also  a 
rniriature  of  Hamilton  in  this  city,  painted  from  life,  which  exhibits  a  sensual 
railness  of  cheek  and  chin.  It  is  an  instance  of  the  unreliableness  of  history 
that  of  the  six  most  accessible  portraits  of  Hamilton,  only  two  (and  thos« 
the  wo  st  pictures)  look  aa  if  the?  were  designed  to  resemble  the  same 
>erson. 


THE     ERA     OP     BAD     FEELING.  213 

trim ;  to  each  he  made  a  formal  bow,  bending  very  low,  the 
ceremony  of  shaking  hands  not  being  observed.  The  fame 
of  Hamilton  had  reached  every  one  who  knew  any  thing  of 
public  men.  His  appearance  and  deportment  accorded  with 
the  dignified  distinction  to  which  he  had  attained  in  public 
opinion.  At  dinner,  whenever  he  engaged  in  the  conversa 
tion,  every  one  listened  attentively.  His  mode  of  speaking 
was  deliberate  and  serious  ;  and  his  voice  engagingly  pleasant. 
In  the  evening  of  the  same  day  he  was  in  a  mixed  assembly 
of  both  sexes ;  and  the  tranquil  reserve  noticed  at  the  din 
ner  table,  had  given  place  to  a  social  and  playful  manner,  as 
though  in  this  he  was  alone  ambitious  to  excel." 

A  man  thus  endowed,  and  possessing  a  Scotch  tenacity  of  pur 
pose,  can  not  but  powerfully  affect  the  opinions  of  the  society 
of  which  he  is  a  leader  and  an  ornament.  Hamilton  did.  Be 
sides  being  the  soul  and  intellect  of  the  Federal  party,  he  gave 
to  the  upper  society  of  the  cities  its  tone  and  tendency. 

But  there  was  another  man  of  ideas,  of  will,  and  of  talent, 
acting  conspicuously  upon  the  scene ;  Thomas  Jefferson,  Sec 
retary  of  State.  This  man,  a  gentleman  by  birth,  a  Demo 
crat  from  conviction,  a  reflective  philanthropist  by  disposition, 
had  been  abroad  from  1785  to  1789,  and  so  escaped  the  travail 
of  Constitution-making.  He  left  his  country  while  its  natural 
tendencies  to  Republicanism  were  at  full  tide.  He  found 
France  heaving  with  the  coming  earthquake.  With  his  own 
eyes  he  saw  the  haggard,  thistle-eating  peasants.  With  his 
own  hand  he  felt  and  weighed  the  sorry  morsels  of  black 
bread  that  mothers  gave  to  hungry  children.  In  his  journeys 
through  fair  France,  he  was  much  in  the  peasants'  hovels,  and 
looked  with  a  wrathful  brother's  eyes  upon  those  mean  abodes. 
On  the  sly,  when  the  good  woman's  face  was  turned,  we  see 
his  singular  gentleman  feeling  the  bed  upon  which  he  had 
taken  care  to  sit,  to  ascertain  its  material  and  quality,  and 
ooking  into  the  pot  to  see  what  the  poor  wretch  was  cooking 
or  her  children's  dinner.  His  office  of  embassador  made  him 
a  resident  of  chateaus  and  a  frequenter  of  courts,  and  he 
•xwld  see  precisely  how  much  of  natural  right  the  puny  seig« 
•eur8  and  stolid  monseigneurs  had  to  lord  it  over  the  sons  of 


216  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

toil.  The  "folly  of  heaping  importance  upon  idiots"  became 
exceedingly  clear  to  Thomas  Jefferson.  He  was  one  of  those 
rare  Americans  whom  a  European  tour  has  instructed  and 
confirmed  in  humane  principles,  not  effeminated  and  befooled 

In  person,  as  in  character,  Jefferson  was  a  contrast  to  Ham 
ilton.  He  was  a  tall  man,  six  feet  one  in  stature,  it  is  said ; 
well  enough  proportioned,  but  not  of  a  compact,  energetic 
build.  His  legs  were  long,  and  seemed  loose-jointed.  His 
Welsh  extraction  showed  itself  in  reddish  flaxen  hair,  a  light 
complexion,  blue  eyes,  and  a  general  Celtic  cast  of  features. 
His  manner,  says  tradition,  was  plain  and  friendly,  not  polished 
nor  imposing.  He  was  a  good-tempered  man,  and  his  writings, 
as  we  see,  are  calm  and  flowing.  But  there  was  fire  in  Thomas 
Jefferson.  Under  the  cold  surface  of  some  of  his  letters,  we 
can  see  the  lava  of  his  convictions  flowing  white  hot.  He  was 
no  orator :  he  never  made  a  speech,  I  believe.  His  influence 
was  owing  entirely  to  his  character,  his  social  rank,  and,  above 
all,  to  the  accordance  of  his  convictions  with  the  instincts  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States.  Jefferson  was  eminently  a  man 
of  opinions,  as  distinguished  from  action,  as  Hamilton  was  a  man 
of  action,  as  distinguished  from  opinion.  "  Thought,"  says 
Goethe,  "  expands :  action  narrows."  Jefferson  had  all  the 
breadth  and  liberality  which  enlightened  opinion  bestows ;  but 
hi  devising  measures  and  carrying  on  the  actual  business  of 
governing  a  State,  he  would  have  been  excelled,  perhaps,  by 
Hamilton.  In  the  revolutionary  war,  the  ardent,  executive 
spirits  of  the  country  sought  glory  in  the  field.  But  Jeffer 
son,  the  scholar,  the  philosopher,  the  jurist,  remained  a  civilian 
to  the  last,  and  served  his  country  only  with  his  name,  his 
mind,  and  his  pen.  This  fact,  in  connection  with  another, 
namely,  that  he  was  only  thirty  years  old  when  the  war  broke 
out,  indicates  the  man  of  books.  At  all  periods  of  his  life, 
war  and  violence  were  abhorrent  to  this  contemplative  lover 
of  his  species. 

It  is  the  fashion  now  to  underrate  Mr.  Jefferson.  In  the 
saloons  of  our  Historical  Societies,  in  the  volumes  of  Mr.  Hil 
ireth's  History  of  the  United  States,  and,  indeed,  in  most 
polite  circles  and  books  of  the  present  time,  the  character  of 


THE     ERA     OF     BAD     PEELING.  217 

the  Great  Democrat  fares  ill.  The  polite  circles  and  books  of 
the  United  States  have  never  sympathized  with  what  alone 
makes  the  United  States  a  nation  of  promise.  And  Thomas 
Jefferson,  like  General  Washington,  has  been  for  fifty  years 
the  victim  of  incessant  eulogy.  The  student  of  history,  there 
fore,  sits  down  to  the  investigation  of  his  life  and  character 
with  a  feeling  of  weariness  and  disgust,  expecting  to  find  him 
as  complete  a  disappointment  as  other  great  names  of  that 
period  prove  to  be  on  close  examination.  But  no  ;  Jefferson, 
to  the  surprise  of  the  reader  of  his  works,  is  discovered  to  be 
a  person  of  original  and  solid  merit.  He  more  than  shared  the 
enlightenment  of  the  foremost  man  of  his  age  ;  he  was  in  ad 
vance  of  his  age  ;  his  country  has  not  yet  come  up  to  Thomas 
Jefferson.  If  to  General  Washington,  more  than  to  any  other 
man,  this  young  nation  owes  its  existence,  to  Thomas  Jeffer 
son,  more  than  to  any  other  man,  it  owes  the  peaceful  preser 
vation  of  its  grand  peculiarity.  Faults,  indeed,  he  had,  and 
faults  he  committed.  An  inexecutive  man  in  an  executive  sta 
tion  is  sure  to  make  mistakes.  But  his  merits  and  services, 
immense  and  various,  almost  beyond  example,  fill  me  with  grat 
itude  and  admiration — sinner  as  he  was  against  my  poor  hero. 

Longing  for  his  native  fields,  Jefferson  left  France  in  the 
glorious  year  of  the  Bastile,  and  came  home  to  Virginia.  He 
had  no  misgivings  about  the  Revolution :  he  understood  and 
loved  the  Revolution.  Before  that  purifying  storm  had  burst 
upon  an  astounded  world,  he  had  watched  and  hailed  the  signs 
that  foretold  the  coming  vindication  of  the  rights  of  man. 
Up  to  the  time  of  his  leaving  France,  the  Revolution  had  worn 
only  its  nobler  aspects,  and  he  sympathized  with  it,  heart  and 
intellect. 

He  reached  Virginia,  and  was  summoned  soon  by  General 
Washington  to  the  office  of  Secretary  of  State.  With  un 
feigned  reluctance  (for  he  was  an  enthusiast  in  agriculture)  he 
left  his  ample  estates  and  came  to  New  York  to  join  the  new 
government.  There  he  met  with  a  surprise.  But  let  us  quote 
lis  own  language : 

"  I  returned  from  the  French  mission,"  says  Mr.  Jefferson. 
*in  the  first  year  of  the  new  government,  having  landed 

10 


B18  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BURR. 

in  Virginia  in  December,  1789,  and  proceeded  to  Nevr 
York  in  March,  1790,  to  enter  on  the  office  of  Secretary 
of  State.  Here,  certainly,  I  found  a  state  of  things  which, 
of  all  I  had  ever  contemplated,  I  the  least  expected.  1 
had  left  France  in  the  first  year  of  her  Revolution,  in  the 
fervor  of  national  rights  and  zeal  for  reformation.  My  con 
acientious  devotion  to  those  rights  could  not  be  heightened, 
but  it  had  been  aroused  and  excited  by  daily  exercise.  The 
President  received  me  cordially,  and  my  colleagues,  and  the 
circle  of  principal  citizens,  apparently  with  welcome.  The 
courtesies  of  dinner  parties  given  me,  as  a  stranger  newly 
arrived  among  them,  placed  me  at  once  in  their  familiar  soci 
ety.  But  I  can  not  describe  the  wonder  and  mortification 
with  which  the  table  conversations  filled  me.  Politics  were 
the  chief  topic,  and  a  preference  of  kingly  over  republican 
government  was  evidently  the  favorite  sentiment.  An  apos 
tate  I  could  not  be,  nor  yet  a  hypocrite  ;  and  I  found  myself, 
for  the  most  part,  the  only  advocate  on  the  republican  side  of 
the  question." 

Mr.  Jefferson  records  part  of  the  conversation  which  passed 
at  a  cabinet  dinner  at  this  period — present,  himself,  Mr.  Adams, 
and  Mr.  Hamilton : 

"  After  the  cloth  was  removed,  and  one  question  argued  and 
dismissed,  conversation  began  on  other  matters,  and  by  some 
circumstance  was  led  to  the  British  Constitution,  on  which  Mr. 
Adams  observed,  '  Purge  that  constitution  of  its  corruption, 
and  give  to  its  popular  branch  equality  of  representation,  and 
it  would  be  the  most  perfect  constitution  ever  devised  by  the 
wit  of  man.' 

"  Hamilton  paused  and  said,  '  Purge  it  of  its  corruption, 
and  give  to  its  popular  branch  equality  of  representation,  and 
t  would  become  an  impracticable  government :  as  it  standa 
at  present,  with  all  its  supposed  defects,  it  is  the  most  perfect 
government  which  ever  existed.' 

"  And  this  was  assuredly  the  exact  line  which  separated 
tfce  political  creeds  of  these  two  gentlemen.  The  one  was  for 
swo  hereditary  branches,  and  an  honest  elective  one ;  the 
other,  for  a  hereditary  king,  with  a  House  of  Lords  and  Con* 


THE     EBA     OF     BAD     PEELING.  219 

mons  corrupted  to  his  will,  and  standing  between  him  and  the 
people.  Hamilton  was  indeed  a  singular  character.  Of  acute 
understanding,  disinterested,  honest,  and  honorable  in  all  pri 
vate  transactions,  amiable  in  society,  and  duly  valuing  virtue 
in  private  life,  yet  so  bewitched  and  perverted  by  the  British 
example,  as  to  be  under  thorough  conviction  that  corruption 
was  essential  to  the  government  of  a  nation.  Mr.  Adams  had 
originally  been  a  Republican.  The  glare  of  royalty  and  no 
bility,  during  his  mission  to  England,  had  made  him  believe 
their  fascination  a  necessary  ingredient  in  government." 

Hamilton  and  Jefferson  could  not  be  an  harmonious  pair 
of  cabinet  ministers.  Hamilton  hated,  Jefferson  loved,  the 
French  Revolution.*  Hamilton  approved,  Jefferson  detested 
the  monarchizing  forms  of  Washington's  administrations. 
Hamilton  was  for  a  strong  and  overshadowing  federal  gov 
ernment  ;  Jefferson  was  strenuous  for  the  independence  of  the 
States.  Hamilton  was  in  favor  of  high  salaries  and  a  gen 
eral  liberality  of  expenditure  ;  Jefferson,  liberal  with  his  own 
money,  was  penurious  in  expending  the  people's.  Hamilton 
desired  a  powerful  standing  army ;  Jefferson  was  for  relying 
chiefly  upon  an  unpaid,  patriotic  militia.  Hamilton  would  have 
had  our  embassadors  live  at  foreign  courts,  in  a  style  similar 
to  that  of  the  courtly  representatives  of  kings  ;  Jefferson  was 
opposed  to  any  diplomatic  establishment.  Hamilton  had  a 

*  Like  the  Bourbons,  the  New  York  Federalist  learns  nothing,  and  forgets 
tothing.  While  writing  this  page,  my  eyes  wandered  for  a  moment  to  the 
newspaper  which  contained  Senator  Wadsworth's  speech  on  the  Trinity  Church 
question  (delivered  hi  March,  1857).  Mr.  "Wads worth  claimed  to  speak  as 
the  representative  of  "the  Jays,  the  Hamiltons,  and  the  Kings,"  whom  he  evi 
dently  regards  as  the  elect  of  the  human  race.  Alluding  to  the  gentleman 
who  thought  that  the  vestry  of  Trinity  should  not  have  unchecked  control  of 
he  church's  great  estate,  the  honorable  and  unlearned  Senator  said,  "  Neither 
ack  Cade  nor  Ledru  Roltin  ever  proposed  any  thing  bolder.  All  Jacobinism 
gtands  without  its  parallel  The  attacks  upon  the  noblesse  of  France,  when 
untold  millions  of  property  fell  the  prey  of  plebeian  rapacity,  furnishes  the 
only  fit  illustration  which  my  mind  can  recall  to  express  my  abhorrence  of  this 
outrageous  proposition."  This  is  eminently  Hamiltonian.  But  for  Hamilton 
lo  speak  in  that  manner  of  the  French  Revolution  was  excusable,  as  he  died 
feefore  the  labors  of  scores  of  historians  and  mographers  had  flooded  that  pe 
ood  witn  ught 


220  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BURR. 

great  opinion  of  the  importance  of  foreign  commerce ;  Jeffer- 
son  knew  that  home  production  and  internal  trade  are  the 
great  sources  of  national  wealth.  Hamilton  gave  a  polite 
assent  to  the  prevailing  religious  creed,  and  attended  the 
Episcopal  Church ;  Jefferson  was  an  avowed  and  emphatic 
dissenter  from  that  creed,  and  went  to  the  Unitarian  chapel. 
And  finally,  Hamilton,  the  ex-clerk,  was  a  very  fine  gentle 
man,  and  wore  the  very  fine  clothes  then  in  vogue ;  Jefferson, 
the  hereditary  lord  of  acres,  combed  his  hair  out  of  pig-tail, 
discarded  powder,  wore  pantaloons,  fastened  his  shoes  with 
strings  instead  of  buckles,  and  put  fine-gen tlemanism  utteily 
out  of  his  heart  for  ever. 

"  Hamilton  and  I,"  said  Jefferson,  long  after,  "  were  pitted 
against  each  other  every  day  in  the  cabinet,  like  two  fighting- 
cocks."  No  wonder.  They  soon  became,  as  all  the  world 
knows,  personally  estranged,  and  Hamilton,  never  too  scrupu 
lous  in  political  warfare,  assailed  his  colleague  1 5  name  in  the 
newspapers.  From  the  cabinet  the  contention  spread  to  the 
farthest  confines  of  the  nation,  and  became  at  length  the  an 
griest  and  bitterest  this  nation  has  known. 

A  few  passages  from  the  writings  and  reminiscences  of  the 
time  will  show  the  state  of  public  feeling  during  this  contest 
between  the  new  and  old  ideas. 

Of  the  excitement  caused  by  General  Washington's  cool  re 
ception  of  absurd  Genet,  the  French  embassador,  who  made 
a  triumphal  progress  through  the  country  in  1793,  John 
Adams  wrote  to  Jefferson  in  after  years :  "  You  certainly 
never  felt  the  terrorism  excited  by  Genet  in  1793,  when  ten 
thousand  people  in  the  streets  of  Philadelphia,  day  after  day, 
threatened  to  drag  Washington  out  of  his  house,  and  effect  a 
revolution  in  the  government,  or  compel  it  to  declare  war 
in  favor  of  the  French  Revolution,  and  against  England.  The 
coolest  and  the  firmest  minds,  even  among  the  Quakers  in 
Philadelphia,  have  given  their  opinions  to  me,  that  nothing 
but  the  yellow  fever,  which  removed  Dr.  Hutchinson  and 
Jonathan  Dickinson  Sergeant  from  this  world,  could  have  saved 
the  United  States  from  a  fatal  revolution  of  government.  1 
have  no  doubt  you  were  fast  asleep,  in  philosophical  tranquil 


THE     ErfA.     OF     BAD     FEELING.  221 

H 

Jty,  when  ten  thousand  people,  and  perhaps  many  more,  were 
parading  the  streets  of  Philadelphia  on  the  evening  of  my 
fast  day  ;  when  even  Governor  Mifflin  himself  thought  it  hie 
duty  to  order  a  patrol  of  horse  and  foot  to  preserve  the  peace ; 
\vhen  Market  street  was  as  full  as  men  could  stand  by  one 
another,  and  even  before  my  door ;  when  some  of  my  domes 
tics  in  frenzy,  determined  to  sacrifice  their  lives  in  my  defense  ; 
when  all  were  ready  t .)  make  a  desperate  sally  among  the  mul 
titude,  and  others  were  with  difficulty  and  danger  dragged 
back  by  the  rest ;  when  I  myself  judged  it  prudent  and  nec 
essary  to  order  chests  of  arms  from  the  war-office  to  be 
brought  through  by-lanes  and  back  doors,  determined  to  de 
fend  my  house  at  the  expense  of  my  life,  and  the  lives  of  the 
few,  very  few  domestics  and  friends  within  it." 

The  delirium  of  the  public  during  the  early  years  of  the 
French  Revolution,  is  strikingly  shown  in  a  letter  which  Mr. 
Adams  wrote  to  his  wife  in  1794.  "The  rascally  lie,"  wrote 
the  Yice-President,  "  about  the  Duke  of  York  in  a  cage  /  and 
Toulon  and  all  the  English  fleet  in  the  hands  of  the  Republic 
ans,  was  fabricated  on  purpose  to  gull  the  gudgeons ;  and  it 
completely  succeeded,  to  my  infinite  mortification.  An  at 
tempt  was  made  to  get  me  to  read  the  red-hot  lie  to  the  Sen 
ate,  in  order  to  throw  them  into  as  foolish  a  confusion  as  that 
below  them ;  but  I  was  too  old  to  be  taken  in,  at  least  by  so 
gross  an  artifice,  the  falsehood  of  which  was  to  me  palpable." 
This  lie,  palpable  as  it  was,  not  only  threw  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives  into  confusion,  but  set  all  the  bells  of  Philadel 
phia  ringing,  and  made  the  city,  for  a  few  hours,  the  scene  of 
vociferous  rejoicing. 

Graydon,  in  his  Memoirs  of  this  period,  tells  a  story  that 
gives  us  a  lively  idea  of  the  popular  feeling.  "  I  remember," 
Bays  he,  "  one  day  at  the  table  of  General  Mifnin,  at  this  time 
President  of  the  State  (Pennsylvania),  when  the  Parisian 
courtezans  were  applauded  for  contributing  their  patriotic 
gifts.  I  ventured  (Graydon  was  a  thorough-going  Federalist, 
and  '  gentleman  of  the  old  school'),  to  call  in  question  the 
immense  merit  of  the  proceeding.  I  was  stared  at  by  a  pious 
Clergyman  for  the  shocking  heterodoxy  of  mj  sentiments,  and 


122  LIFE     OF     AAEON    BURR. 

should  probably  have  been  drawn  into  an  altercation,  no  less 
disagreeable  than  indiscreet,  had  not  the  general,  in  a  friendly 
manner,  pacified  the  parson  by  whispering  him  in  the  ear,  that 
I  was  perfectly  well-disposed,  and  only  sporting  an  opinion. 
So  overwhelming  was  the  infatuation,  that  even  this  godly 
personage  had  quite  forgot  that  incontinency  was  a  sin.  Hu 
4  could  have,  hugged  the  wicked  sluts — they  pleased  him  /' " 

During  this  contest  between  young  Democracy  and  old  Cus 
tom,  a  very  marked  change  took  place  in  the  costume,  the 
manners,  and  the  minor  morals  of  the  people.  The  feeling  oi 
equality  expressed  itself  in  dress.  John  Jay,  among  others, 
alludes,  in  one  of  his  letters,  to  the  effect  of  the  French  Revo 
lution  in  banishing  silk  stockings  and  high  breeding  from  the 
land.  Pantaloons  became  the  outward  and  visible  sign  of  an 
inward  and  invisible  republicanism.  Hair-powder,  pig-tails, 
and  shoe-buckles  began  to  disappear ;  and  the  polite  observ 
ances  that  had  grown  out  of  the  old-world  distinctions  of  rank, 
were  discontinued  by  the  more  ardent  republicans.  The  re 
cently  published  Recollections  of  Peter  Parley,  contain  much 
precious  and  pleasantly-given  information  respecting  the 
gradual  change  that  came  over  the  spirit  of  the  country  in 
the  time  of  Jefferson.  The  excellent  Parley  is  a  sad  Federal 
ist,  it  is  true,  and  his  sympathies  are  much  more  with  the 
good  old  time,  than  with  the  better  new  time  ;  but  he  is  a 
faithful  and  agreeable  narrator.  Before  the  Jeffersonian  era, 
he  tells  us,  travelers  who  met  on  the  highway  saluted  each 
other  with  formal  and  dignified  courtesy ;  and  children 
stopped,  as  they  passed  a  grown  person,  and  made  the  bow 
they  had  been  practiced  in  at  school  for  such  occasions.  But 
as  democracy  spread,  these  grand  salutations  "  first  subsided 
into  a  vulgar  nod,  half  ashamed  and  half  impudent,  and  then, 
like  the  pendulum  of  a  dying  clock,  totally  ceased." 

Another  little  fact  mentioned  by  Mr.  Goodrich  is  signifi 
cant.  "  Pounds,  shillings,  and  pence,"  says  he,  "  were  clas- 
lical,  and  dollars  and  cents  vulgar,  for  several  succeeding  gen 
erations.  '  I  would  not  give  a  penny  for  it,'  was  genteel ;  '  i 
would  not  give  A  sent  for  it,'  was  plebeian."  Among  the 
Benefits  bestowed  upon  the  country  by  Jefferson,  one  was  it* 


THE    ERA     OF     BAD     FEELING.  223 

admirable  currency ;  which,  if  ne  did  not  invent,  he  so  advo 
cated  as  to  insure  its  adoption. 

A  ludicrous  anecdote  related  by  the  same  author,  though 
of  a  somewhat  later  stage  of  the  democratic  triumph,  has  an 
historic  value.  "  A  Senator  of  the  United  States,"  says  Mr, 
Goodrich,  "  once  told  me  that  at  this  period  all  the  barbers  of 
Washington  were  Federalists,  and  he  imputed  it  to  the  fact 
that  the  leaders  of  that  party  in  Congress  wore  powder  and 
long  queues,  and  of  course  had  them  dressed  every  day  by  the 
barber.  The  Democrats,  on  the  contrary,  wore  short  hair,  or, 
at  least,  small  queues,  tied  up  carelessly  with  a  ribbon,  and 
therefore  gave  little  encouragement  to  the  tonsorial  art.  One 
day,  as  the  narrator  told  me,  while  he  was  being  shaved  by 
the  leading  barber  of  the  city — who  was,  of  course,  a  Federal 
ist — the  latter  suddenly  and  vehemently  burst  out  against  the 
nomination  of  Madison  for  the  presidency  by  the  democratic 
party,  which  had  that  morning  been  announced.  '  Dear  me !' 
said  the  barber,  '  surely  this  country  is  doomed  to  disgrace 
and  shame.  What  Presidents  we  might  have,  sir !  Just  look 
at  Daggett,  of  Connecticut,  or  Stockton,  of  New  Jersey  ' 
What  queues  they  have  got,  sir — as  big  as  your  wrist,  and 
powdered  every  day,  sir,  like  real  gentlemen  as  they  are 
Such  men,  sir,  would  confer  dignity  upon  the  chief  magis 
tracy  ;  but  this  little  Jim  Madison,  with  a  queue  no  bigger 
than  a  pipe-stem !  sir,  it  is  enough  to  make  a  man  forswear 
his  country !'  " 

The  reader,  I  hope,  is  one  of  those  who  will  see  in  these  ex 
tracts  proof  that  what  democracy  destroyed  was  either  sham, 
or  so  mingled  with  sham,  as  to  be  inseparable  from  it.  But 
many  of  our  sedate  and  stately  forefathers  could  not  see  this. 
*  efferson  was  a  name  of  horror  in  New  England  for  many  a 
year ;  clergymen  preached  against  him,  and  prayed  against 
him,  even  by  name. 

There  was  great  activity  of  mind  at  this  time.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  revolutionary  war,  there  were  forty  news 
papers  published  in  the  colonies.  The  number  had  not  in- 
creased  when  the  Constitution  was  adopted,  in  1787.  During 
Washington's  first  term,  several  new  papers  were  started,  but 


224  LIFE     OP     AAEON     BUKB. 

in  his  second  term,  and  in  the  first  half  of  Adams's  administra 
tion,  the  number  of  newspapers  doubled.  There  were  more 
daily  papers  published  in  Philadelphia  in  1798  than  there  are 
in  1857.  In  the  heat  of  the  warfare  between  the  Federalists 
and  Republicans,  the  political  papers  went  rabid,  and  foamed 
personalities  and  lies. 

What  Jefferson  says  of  the  press,  after  some  years  of  this 
madness  had  spoiled  it  for  every  good  purpose,  may  be  quoted 
here: 

"  Nothing,"  wrote  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  1807,  "  can  now  be  be 
lieved  which  is  seen  in  a  newspaper.  Truth  itself  becomes 
suspicious  by  being  put  into  that  polluted  vehicle.  The  real 
extent  of  this  state  of  misinformation  is  known  only  to  those 
who  are  in  situations  to  confront  facts  within  their  knowledge 
with  the  lies  of  the  day.  I  really  look  with  commiseration 
over  the  great  body  of  my  fellow-citizens,  who,  reading  news 
papers,  live  and  die  in  the  belief  that  they  have  known  some 
thing  of  what  has  been  passing  in  the  world  in  their  time ; 
whereas  the  accounts  they  have  read  in  newspapers  are  just  as 
true  a  history  of  any  other  period  of  the  world  as  of  the  pres 
ent,  except  that  the  real  names  of  the  day  are  affixed  to  their 
fables.  General  facts  may  indeed  be  collected  from  them,  such 
as  that  Europe  is  now  at  war,  that  Bonaparte  has  been  a  suc 
cessful  warrior,  that  he  has  subjected  a  great  portion  of  Europe 
to  his  will,  etc.,  etc. ;  but  no  details  can  be  relied  on.  I  will 
add,  that  the  man  who  never  looks  into  a  newspaper  is  better 
infornied  than  he  who  reads  them ;  inasmuch  as  he  who  knows 
nothing  is  nearer  to  truth  than  he  whose  mind  is  filled  with 
falsehood  and  errors.  He  who  reads  nothing  will  still  learn 
the  great  facts,  and  the  details  are  all  false. 

"  Perhaps  an  editor  might  begin  a  reformation  in  some  such 
vay  as  this;  Divide  his  paper  into  four  chapters,  heading  the 
1st.  Truths,  2d.  Probabilities,  3d.  Possibilities,  4th.  Lies.  The 
first  chapter  would  be  very  short,  as  it  would  contain  little 
more  than  authentic  papers,  and  information  from  such  sources 
4s  the  editor  would  be  willing  to  risk  his  own  reputation  for 
their  truth.  The  second  would  contain  what,  from  a  mature 
consideration  of  all  circumstances,  his  judgment  should  con- 


THE     ERA     OF     BAD     FEELING.  225 

elude  to  be  probably  true.  This,  however,  should  rather  con- 
tain  too  little  than  too  much.  The  third  and  fourth  should  be 
professedly  for  those  readers  who  would  rather  have  lies  for 
their  money  than  the  blank  paper  they  would  occupy." 

Jefferson,  however,  knew  the  value  of  the  press,  and  the 
services  it  had  rendered.  He  wrote  the  passage  just  quoted 
after  the  great  fight  was  over,  and  before  the  press  had  begun 
to  recover  from  the  demoralization  which  is  one  of  the  results 
of  warfare.  In  1793,  when  Washington  seemed  to  wish  Jef 
ferson  to  dismiss  Captain  Freneau  (democratic  editor-in-chic-f ) 
from  the  post  of  translating  clerk  to  the  Secretary  of  State 
(salary,  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  a  year),  Jefferson  said 
to  one  of  his  intimates  :  "  I  won't  turn  him  out.  His  paper 
has  done  more  to  save  the  democratic  system  than  any  thing 
else." 

The  period  which  I  have  called  the  "  era  of  bad  feeling," 
began  with  those  game-cock  encounters  between  Jefferson  and 
Hamilton  in  the  cabinet  of  General  Washington,  and  contin 
ued,  with  yearly-increasing  acrimony,  till  democracy  and  Jef 
ferson  triumphed  in  1800.  The  struggle  would  naturally  have 
lasted  longer,  for  Federalism  had  immense  advantages,  and 
every  new  horror  of  the  French  Revolution  was  strength  to 
the  party  that  had  always  denounced  it.  The  two  circum 
stances  which,  more  than  all  others,  hastened  the  republican 
triumph,  were,  as  it  seems  to  me,  Burr's  management,  and 
John  Adams's  want  of  management.  The  part  which  Burr 
played  in  effecting  the  discomfiture  of  Hamilton  and  his  party, 
will  be  stated  fully  in  the  next  chapter.  Here,  a  few  words 
respecting  Adams  may  be  permitted. 

Glorious,  delightful,  honest  John  Adams !  An  American 
John  Bull !  The  Comic  Uncle  of  this  exciting  drama  !  The 
reader,  if  a  play-goer,  knows  well  the  fiery  old  gentleman 
who  goes  blustering  and  thundering  about  the  stage,  grasping 
his  stick  till  it  quivers,  throwing  the  lovers  into  a  terrible 
consternaion,  hurrying  on  the  catastrophe  he  is  most  solicitous 
to  prevent,  pluming  himself  most  of  all  upon  his  sagacity, 
grille  he  alone  is  blind  to  what  is  passing  under  his  very  nose! 
inch  is  something  like  the  impression  left  upon  the  mind  -of 

10* 


226  LIFE     3F     AARON     BURR. 

one  who  becomes  famLiar  with  the  characters  ot  this  period, 
respecting  the  man  who,  as  Franklin  well  said,  was  always 
honest,  often  great,  and  sometimes  mad.  Think  of  a  President 
of  the  United  States,  who,  while  his  countrymen  were  in  the 
temper  of  1797  and  1798,  could,  in  a  public  address,  allude  to 
his  having  had  the  honor  once  to  stand  in  the  presence  of  the 
British  king !  It  is  simply  amusing  now  to  read  of  his  having 
done  so ;  but,  to  the  maddened  Republicans  of  that  era,  it 
seemed  the  last  degree  of  abject  pusillanimity  toward  England, 
and  arrogant  insult  to  the  people  of  America.  Think  also  of 
a  President  of  the  United  States  who  could  see,  without  in 
terference,  a  fellow-citizen  prosecuted,  convicted,  and  fined  a 
hundred  dollars,  for  wishing  that  the  wadding  of  a  certain 
cannon,  fired  to  salute  the  President  as  he  passed  through 
Newark,  had  lodged  upon  an  ample  part  of  the  President's 
ample  person !  One  of  his  own  cabinet  told  Hamilton  that 
the  "  chief  was  a  man  who,  whether  sportful,  playful,  witty, 
kind,  cold,  drunk,  sober,  angry,  easy,  stiff,  jealous,  careless, 
cautious,  confident,  close,  or  open,  is  so  almost  always  in  the 
wrong  place,  and  to  the  wrong  persons."  Alien  laws,  sedition 
laws,  and  stamp  duties,  came  naturally  enough  to  such  a  Pres 
ident. 

John  Adams  must  never  be  judged  by  his  administration 
None  of  the  men  of  the  Revolution  came  out  of  the  storm 
and  stress  of  our  era  of  bad  feeling  quite  unscathed.  It  was 
too  much  for  human  nature  In  the  revolutionary  period, 
this  high-mettled  game-cock  of  a  John  Adams  appeared  to 
glorious  advantage,  made  a  splendid  show  of  fight,  animated 
the  patriotic  heart,  and  gave  irresistible  impetus  to  the  cause. 
But  he  was  ludicrously  unfitted  to  preside  with  dignity  and 
success  over  a  popular  government,  which  must  do  every 
thing  with  an  eye  to  its  effect  upon  the  people.  His  own  cab 
inet  intrigued  against  him.  They  regarded  Hamilton  as  their 
real  chief;  and  Hamilton,  far  more  than  Adams,  was  the  influ 
encing  mind  of  the  government.  One  who  would  understand 
and  like  John  Adams  must  read  his  Diaries  and  Letters 
which,  of  all  the  writings  of  that  time,  are  the  most  human 
ind  entertaining.  Pickwick  is  not  funnier.  Pickwick,  in  the 


THE     ERA     OF     BAD     FEELING.  227 

office  of  prime  minister  of  England,  would  not  have  beer 
more  the  wrong  man  in  the  wrong  place  than  John  Adams 
was  in  the  chair  of  Washington. 

Adams  and  Hamilton  agreed  in  one  thing,  abhorrence  of 
he  French  Revolution ;  and  in  another,  admiration  of  the 
English  government ;  and  in  another,  distrust  of  the  masses 
of  the  people.  "  You  thought,"  said  Adams  to  a  correspond 
ent,  "  the  French  Revolution  a  minister  of  grace :  I  knew  it  to 
be,  from  the  first,  a  goblin  damned."  One  of  his  letters  to  his 
wife  contains  a  characteristic  passage  on  equality.  "  By  the 
law  of  nature,"  he  writes,  "  all  men  are  men,  and  not  angels 
—men,  and  not  lions — men,  and  not  whales — men,  and  not 
eagles — that  is,  they  are  all  of  the  same  species;  and  this  is 
the  most  that  the  equality  of  man  amounts  to.  A  physical 
inequality,  an  intellectual  inequality,  of  the  most  serious  kind, 
is  established  unchangeably  by  the  Author  of  nature ;  and  so 
ciety  has  a  right  to  establish  any  other  inequalities  it  may 
judge  necessary  for  its  good.  The  precept,  however,  do  as 
you  would  be  done  by,  implies  an  equality  which  is  the  real 
equality  of  nature  and  Christianity." 

In  one  word,  John  Adams  was  not  in  unison  with  the  hu 
mor  of  the  age ;  and,  being  a  passionate,  dogmatical,  obsti 
nate  John  Bull  of  a  man,  he  took  not  the  slightest  pains  to 
conceal  the  fact,  or  to  conciliate  the  people  with  whom  he  had 
to  do.  During  his  presidency  it  was,  that  party  animosities 
reached  their  height.  He  was  elected  by  a  very  small  plu 
rality.  The  Republicans  of  1796  were  nearly  as  much  elated 
and  encouraged  by  their  defeat  as  were  the  Republicans  of 
1856  by  theirs.  Events  in  France  gave  the  President  signal 
advantages,  which  another  man  would  have  turned  to  such 
account  as  to  secure  the  supremacy  of  his  party  for  years 
ifter.  Adams  continued  to  fan  the  flames  of  party  spirit  by 
all  that  he  did,  and  by  all  that  he  did  not  do. 

The  state  of  public  feeling  in  1797  and  1798,  may  be  in 
<erred  from  these  sentences  from  the  letters  of  Thomas  Jefter. 
*on :  "The  passions  are  too  high  at  present  to  be  cooled  in 
oui  day.  You  and  I  have  formerly  seen  warm  debates  and 
high  political  passions.  But  gentlemen  of  different  politic* 


228  LIFE     OP     AARON    BURR. 

would  then  speak  to  each  other,  and  separate  the  business  of 
the  Senate  from  that  of  society.  It  is  not  so  now.  Men  who 
have  been  intimate  all  their  lives,  cross  the  street  to  avoid 
meeting,  and  turn  their  heads  another  way,  lest  they  should 
be  obliged  to  touch  their  hats."  To  another  friend  he  writes ; 
"At  this  moment,  all  the  passions  are  boiling  over,  and  one 
who  keeps  himself  cool  and  clear  of  the  contagion,  is  so  far 
below  the  point  of  ordinary  conversation  that  he  finds  himself 
insulated  in  every  society."  To  another :  "  The  interruption 
of  letters  is  becoming  so  notorious,  that  I  am  forming  a  reso 
lution  of  declining  correspondence  with  my  friends  through 
the  channels  of  the  post-office  altogether." 

With  these  very  miscellaneous  and  inadequate  notices  of  the 
stirring  and  eventful  period  during  which  America  became 
America,  we  must  resume  the  story  of  the  man  whose  dili 
gence  and  tact  assisted  the  people  of  the  United  States  to 
realize  their  fond  desire  for  a  government  which  should  truly 
represent  them,  and  heartily  execute  their  will. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

MEMBER    OF    THE    ASSEMBLY    AGAIN. 

8tfRR  RETIRES  FROM  THE  SENATE  — TflE  FEDERALISTS  IN  POWER  —  PRE-KMINEWT  POSI 
TION  OF  HAMILTON  —  BTTBB  IN  THE  ASSEMBLY  — His  PREPARATORY  MANEUVERS  — 
HAMILTON  OPPOSES  BURR'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  A  GENERALSHIP  —  THE  ARMY  — Tal 
MANHATTAN  BANE  AFFAIR — BURR'S  FIRST  DUEL,  AND  ITS  CAUSE. 

IN  Grreenleqfs  New  York  Journal  and  Patriotic  Register 
for  February  2d,  1797,  amid  whole  pages  ablaze  with  the  vic 
tories  of  Bonaparte's  Italian  campaign,  and  bristling  with  the 
short,  sharp  bulletins  and  proclamations  of  that  portentous 
conqueror,  may  still  be  seen  a  little  paragraph  which  records, 
in  the  fewest  words  possible,  an  event  of  some  interest  to  us, 
which  had  taken  place  in  Albany  nine  days  before.  The  para 
graph  reads  thus :  "  On  the  24th  ult.,  Philip  Schuyler  waa 
unanimously  (excepting  one  vote  in  the  Assembly  and  one  in 
the  Senate)  elected  to  the  office  of  Senator  of  the  United 
States  by  the  two  Houses  of  the  legislature  of  this  State,  for 
six  years,  from  the  4th  of  March  next,  on  which  day  the  seat 
of  Aaron  Burr,  one  of  our  present  Senators  in  Congress,  be 
comes  vacant." 

The  services  of  the  old  soldier,  then,  were  recognized  at 
last.  The  Federalists  were  in  the  ascendant,  and  the  Repub 
licans,  as  I  conjecture,  chose  to  gratify  a  war-worn  veteran 
with  their  votes,  rather  than  throw  them  away  upon  a  candi 
date  of  their  own  party.  Schuyler  was  touched  with  the 
unanimity  of  the  vote.  He  was  a  member  of  the  State  Sen 
ate  at  the  time,  and  he  took  occasion  to  express  his  feelings  in 
a  bhort  speech,  full  of  honest,  manly  feeling. 

The  Federalists,  as  just  observed,  were  in  the  ascendant  in 

the  State  of  New  York     John  Jay  was  governor.     He  had 

^covered   much  of  the  popularity  lost  by  negotiating  that 


?30  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

famous  treaty  with  Great  Britain,  for  defending  which  OL  the 
stump  Hamilton  had  been  hooted  and  stoned  in  the  streets  of 
New  York  a  year  before.  The  party  looked  strong,  and  was 

trong.  France  had  become  a  by-word  and  a  taunt,  to  which 
the  Republicans  had  hardly  the  faith  or  face  to  reply.  The 
Federalists  had  only  to  use  their  victory  in  a  conciliatory 

pirit,  and  the  State  was  permanently  their  own. 

One  important  loss,  however,  they  had  sustained,  which  led 
afterward  to  other  damaging  defections.  The  Livingstons 
had  gone  over,  enfamiUe^  to  the  Republican  party.  The 
story  is,  that  the  family  were  chagrined,  that  Chancellor  Liv 
ingston,  who  had  powerfully  assisted  both  to  form  the  Consti 
tution  and  to  get  it  adopted,  should  have  been  overlooked  in 
the  distribution  of  the  great  offices ;  a  circumstance  which 
they  attributed  to  the  jealous  enmity  of  Hamilton.  The  irate 
Chancellor,  it  is  said,  caused  the  family  to  be  convened  ;  and 
from  that  evening,  it  was  observed,  the  Livingstons,  except 
some  remote  and  rural  members  of  the  family,  voted  and 
acted  with  the  Republicans.  Accordingly,  we  find  the  Chan 
cellor,  at  the  banquet  given  in  New  York  in  1796,  to  celebrate 
the  ninth  anniversary  of  the  alliance  between  France  and  the 
United  States,  offering  the  following  toast :  "  May  the  present 
coolness  between  France  and  America  produce,  like  the  quar 
rels  of  lovers,  a  renewal  of  love." 

If  this  account  of  the  cause  of  Chancellor  Livingston's  change 
of  politics  be  correct — and  it  is  given  by  Dr.  Hammond,  the 
charitable  historian  of  New  York  parties,  on  what  he  states 
to  be  high  authority — it  only  proves  that  General  Washing 
ton  was  right  in  thinking  Chancellor  Livingston  an  unfit  per 
son  for  the  office  of  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States.  Let 
us  admit,  however,  that  the  opinion  was  general,  at  that  time, 
that  Hamilton  used  his  influence  with  Washington  to  crush 
the  enemies  and  rivals  of  the  house  of  Schuyler,  and  it  was 
doubtless  trying  to  feudal  human  nature  for  the  head  of  the 
Livingstons  to  see  himself  debarred  from  coveted  distinction 
by  a  foreign  adventurer's  influential  word. 
Hamilton  was  now  approaching  the  summit  of  his  career 

Triumphant  in  his  own  State,  strengthened  at  Philadelphia  by 


MEMBER     OF     THE     ASSEMBLY     AGAIN.  231 

the  election  of  his  father-in-law  to  the  Senate,  known  to  be  the 
favorite  of  the  nation's  favorite,  the  unquestioned  leader,  though 
not  the  head  of  the  dominant  party,  and  the  confidential  ad- 
viser  of  the  cabinet,  Hamilton  was  playing  a  great  part  in  the 
national  affairs.  It  has  been  before  remarked,  that,  during 
the  first  twelve  years  of  the  young  nation's  existence,  it  waa 
he  who  really  administered  the  government.  For  four  years, 
as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  he  devised  the  great  measures; 
for  four  years,  as  Washington's  adviser  and  word- furnisher,  as 
popular  essayist  and  party-intriguer,  he  supported  the  system 
himself  had  created  ;  for  four  years,  his  was  the  mind  to  which 
Mr.  Adams's  ministers  looked  for  suggestion  and  advice.  Can 
did  John  Adams,  when  all  was  over,  declared,  that  during  his 
presidency,  Hamilton  was  "  commander-in-chief  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  of  the  Senate,  of  the  heads  of  Department, 
of  General  Washington,  and  last,  and  least,  if  you  will,  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States."  He  had  won  distinction  ir 
many  of  the  pursuits,  wherein  to  excel  is  counted  peculiarly 
honorable  First,  orator  and  pamphleteer ;  then  soldier,  law 
yer,  statesman,  author,  in  swift  succession,  and  in  each  capacity 
unrivaled.  In  society  too,  who  so  welcome  as  the  young  and 
handsome  chief  of  the  gentlemen's  party,  who  knew  how  to  lay 
aside  in  the  drawing  room  the  cares  of  State,  and  to  charm  the 
gentler  sex  with  the  grace  of  his  manners,  the  sprightliness  of 
his  wit,  the  warmth  of  his  homage  ?  What  wonder  that  the 
amiable  man  should  have  felt  his  importance.  Let  it  be  ever 
remembered,  to  his  honor,  that  through  all  these  years  of  suc 
cess  and  glory,  his  most  constant  thought  was  for  the  supre 
macy  of  the  system  which  he  conscientiously  believed  to  be 
essential  to  the  prosperity,  and  even  to  the  prolonged  exist 
ence  of  the  Union. 

The  election  of  Schuyler  to  the  Senate  could  not,  of  course, 
take  Colonel  Burr  by  surprise.  Before  that  event  was  an 
nounced,  he  had  matured  plans  for  getting  the  State  of  New 
York  out  of  the  hands  of  Hamilton  and  the  Federalists.  His 
arst  fitep  was  to  secure  his  own  election  to  the  State  legisla 
ture,  which  was  the  easier  from  the  fact  that  the  city,  evec 
tfien  was  more  inclined  than  the  rural  counties  to  the  demo- 


232  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BUBB. 

cratic  party.  Accordingly,  General  Schuyler,  about  the  time 
be  was  conning  his  speech  of  thanks  to  the  State  Senate  for 
their  suffrages,  wrote  to  Hamilton,  in  alarm,  to  the  following 
effect :  "  Mr.  Burr,  we  are  informed,  will  be  a  candidate  for 
a  seat  in  the  Assembly ;  his  views  it  is  not  difficult  to  appreci 
ate.  They  alarm  me,  and  if  he  prevails,  I  apprehend  a  total 
change  of  politics  in  the  next  Assembly — attended  with  other 
disagreeable  consequences." 

He  did  prevail.  But  nothing  particular  came  of  it,  so  far 
as  could  be  seen  by  the  uninitiated  eye.  In  the  years  1797  and 
1798,  Colonel  Burr  seemed  absorbed  in  law  and  speculation. 
To  a  great  extent  he  was  so.  His  inactivity  was  even  a  sub 
ject  of  complaint  with  some  members  of  the  party ;  but  it  is 
probable  that  his  unnoticed  exertions  during  those  two  years 
contributed  as  much  to  the  final  victory  as  his  more  obvious 
efforts  at  a  later  day.  With  the  people,  a  presidential  cam- 
paign  means  merely  the  few  months  of  turmoil  just  previous 
to  the  election ;  but  the  politician  knows  that  the  first  three 
years  of  a  presidential  term,  when  the  people  are  occupied 
with  their  own  pursuits,  is  the  period  for  him  to  maneuver  in. 
This  was  more  the  case  then  than  now,  because  then  only 
freeholders  voted,  and  leading  individuals  had  far  more  con 
trol  over  votes  than  they  can  have  where  universal  suffrage 
prevails.  The  fact,  too,  that  presidential  electors  were  chosen, 
not  by  the  people,  but  by  the  legislature,  gave  an  immense 
opportunity  to  a  man  skilled  in  political  management. 

In  a  political  assembly,  though  on  a  test  question  one  party 
may  be  sure  of  a  majority,  yet  there  will  always  be  a  certain 
number  of  men  whose  partizan  feelings  are  weak,  and  who  are 
therefore  open  to  influence.  It  was  upon  these  intermediate 
members  that  Colonel  Burr  knew  how  to  play,  particularly 
the  influential  country  members,  who  brought  to  Albany  the 
purest  intentions,  unsophisticated  minds,  and  an  inflammable 
Vanity.  A  member  of  uncouth  manners,  and  homespun  dress, 
whom  a  dainty  Federalist  would  have  thought  beneath  his 
;iotice,  Burr  was  aware  might  be  the  great  man  of  a  westerr 
gounty,  and  carry  its  vote  in  his  pocket.  Such  a  member 
oursting  with  desire  perhaps  to  hear  his  own  v^e  in  the 


MEMBER     OP    THE     ASSEMBLY     AGAIN.  233 

chamber,  and  to  show  his  constituents  his  name  in  the  news* 
papers,  Colonel  Burr  would  request  to  introduce  a  resolution, 
or  to  do  some  other  formal  business,  that  would  flatter  his 
sense  of  personal  consequence.  Judge  Peck,  for  example,  was 
subjected  to  this  kind  of  treatment.  Burr  was  extremely  de 
sirous,  for  a  while,  that  the  presidential  electors  should  be 
chosen  directly  by  the  people,  as  he  supposed  the  State  could 
be  more  easily  revolutionized  in  that  way.  Peck  was  selected 
to  introduce  the  resolutions  asking  for  a  committee  on  the 
subject,  though  there  were  a  dozen  members  better  able  to 
support  them. 

"Judge  Peck,"  says  Dr.  Hammond,*  "although  a  clear 
headed,  sensible  man,  was  an  uneducated  emigrant  from  Con 
necticut.  His  appearance  was  diminutive,  and  almost  disgust 
ing.  In  religion  he  was  fanatical,  but  in  his  political  views  he 
was  sincere,  persevering,  and  bold ;  and,  though  meek  and 
humble  in  his  personal  demeanor,  he  was  by  no  means  desti 
tute  of  personal  ambition.  He  was  an  itinerant  surveyor  in 
the  county  of  Otsego,  then  a  new  and  uncultivated  part  of  the 
State.  He  would  survey  your  farm  in  the  day  time,  exhoit 
and  pray  in  your  family  by  night,  and  talk  on  politics  the  rest 
of  the  time.  Perhaps  on  Sunday,  or  some  evening  in  the 
week,  he  would  preach  a  sermon  in  your  school-house.  No 
man  knew  better  the  political  importance  of  such  a  man,  in  a 
society  organized  as  the  society  of  the  western  counties  then 
was,  than  Colonel  Burr,  and  he  spared  no  pains  to  cause  Mr. 
Peck  to  be  identified  with  the  Republican  party.  Various 
Anecdotes  have  been  related  to  me,  which  exhibit  the  care 
which  Colonel  Burr  took  to  shape  trifling  matters  in  such  a 
way  as  to  act  on  the  mind  of  Judge  Peck  and  others,  so  as  to 
produce  the  great  result  at  which  he  aimed.  The  selection  of 
Judge  Peck  to  offer  the  electoral  resolutions,  flattered  hia 
vanity  ;  it  called  out  upon  him  the  malediction  of  leading  Fed 
eralists  ;  and  in  that  way  widened  the  breach  between  him 
and  his  old  political  friends.  Mr.  Burr,  it  is  said,  with  equal 
skill  and  perseverance,  applied  himself  to  General  German, 
hen  a  plain,  but  strong-minded  and  highly  popular  farmer  of 
*  History  of  Political  Parties  in  the  State  of  New  York. 


234  LIFE     OP     AARON     BUEB. 

Chenango.  The  support  of  the  democratic  caus'j  by  the** 
two  men  was  of  great  importance  to  the  success  of  the  Re 
publican  party  in  April,  1800.  I  do  not  think  it  too  much  to 
gay,  that  had  it  not  been  for  the  papers  circulated  by  Judge 
Peck  and  General  German,  and  their  personal  exertion  and  in 
fluence,  the  western  district,  in  the  year  1800,  would  have 
been  Federal." 

The  electoral  scheme  failed  in  the  Senate,  through  the  op 
position  of  the  Federal  Senators,  and  nothing  remained  for  the 
Republicans  but  to  concentrate  their  efforts  upon  securing  a 
Republican  majority  in  the  legislature  to  be  chosen  in  April, 
1800.  Before  entering  upon  that  campaign,  there  are  a  few 
personal  incidents  of  Burr's  life  at  this  period  to  be  related. 

In  the  summer  of  1797,  Monroe  and  Hamilton  had  an  angry 
correspondence  growing  out  of  Hamilton's  amour  with  Mrs. 
Reynolds.  A  duel  at  one  time  appeared  inevitable,  and  Mon 
roe  named  Colonel  Burr  as  his  second.  The  affair,  however, 
was  otherwise  arranged. 

In  the  winter  of  1798,  Colonel  Burr  sat  in  the  Assembly  at 
Albany,  engaged  in  pushing  private  bills,  and  preparing  the 
way  for  future  operations.  A  grand  coup  which  he  had  meant 
to  try  at  this  session,,  was,  for  reasons  now  unknown,  deferred 
till  the  next. 

The  year  1798  was  the  time  when  the  insolence  of  tho 
French  Directory  toward  the  United  States  provoked  the 
government  to  measures  of  retaliation,  which,  for  the  moment, 
were  concurred  in  by  a  great  majority  of  the  people,  and 
gave  an  imposing  shou  of  strength  to  the  Federal  party.  An 
army  was  voted ;  General  Washington  was  named  cornmander- 
in-chief ;  Hamilton  was  made  his  second  in  command  ;  a  num 
ber  of  brigadiers  were  appointed.  That  there  might  be  no 
sign  wanting  of  coming  war,  a  commercial  revulsion  set  in, 
and  the  prisons,  as  Jefferson  records,  were  full  of  the  most 
reputable  merchants.  Hamilton,  now  inspector-general,  was 
the  foremost  man  of  all  the  nation  (for  Washington  was  to 
take  command  only  in  case  of  actual  hostilities),  and  about 
the  first  use  he  made  of  his  new  authority,  was  to  defeat  the 
honorable  ambition  of  Colonel  Burr  for  a  military  appoint- 


MEMBEB     OP     THE     ASSEMBLY     AGAIN.  235 

oient.  In  the  lately  published  tenth  volume  of  the  works  of 
Job^  Adams,  there  is  a  long  letter  upon  Hamilton's  intrigues, 
written  in  1815,  in  which  occurs  the  following  statement  re 
specting  this  matter : 

"  I  have  never  known,"  wrote  the  ex-President,  "  in  any 
country,  the  prejudice  in  favor  of  birth,  parentage,  and  de 
cent  more  conspicuous  than  in  the  instance  of  Colonel  Burr 
That  gentleman  was  connected  by  blood  with  many  respecta 
ble  families  in  New  England.  He  was  the  son  of  one  presi 
dent,  and  the  grandson  of  another  president  of  Nassau  Hall, 
or  Princeton  University ;  the  idol  of  all  the  Presbyterians  in 
New  York,- New  England,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Mary 
land,  Virginia,  and  elsewhere.  He  had  served  in  the  army, 
and  came  out  of  it  with  the  character  of  a  knight  without  fear, 
and  an  able  officer.  He  had  afterward  studied  and  practiced 
law  with  application  and  success.  Buoyed  up  on  those  relig 
ious  partialities,  and  this  military  and  juridical  reputation, 
it  is  no  wonder  that  Governor  Clinton  and  Chancellor  Liv 
ingston  should  take  notice  of  him.  They  made  him  Attor 
ney-General,  and  the  legislature  sent  him  to  Congress,  as  a 
Senator,  where  he  served,  I  believe,  six  years.  At  the  next 
election  he  was,  however,  left  out;  and  being  at  that  time 
somewhat  embarrassed  in  his  circumstances,  and  reluctant  to 
return  to  the  bar,  he  would  have  rejoiced  in  an  appointment 
in  the  army.  In  this  situation,  I  proposed  to  General  Wash 
ington,  in  a  conference  between  him  and  me,  and  through  him 
to  the  triumvirate  (Washington,  Hamilton,  and  Pinckney)  to 
nominate  Colonel  Burr  for  a  brigadier-general.  Washington's 
answer  to  me  was, '  By  all  that  I  have  known  and  heard,  Colonel 
fJurr  is  a  brave  and  able  officer ;  but  the  question  is,  whether 
^  e  has  not  equal  talents  at  intrigue  ?'  How  shall  I  describe  to 
you  my  sensations  and  reflections  at  that  moment.  Pie  had 
compelled  me  to  promote,  over  the  heads  of  Lincoln,  Clinton, 
Gates,  Knox,  and  others,  and  even  over  Pinckney,  one  of  his 
own  triumvirates,  the  most  restless,  impatient,  artful,  indefat 
igable,  and  unprincipled  intriguer  in  the  United  States,  if  not 
in  the  world,  to  be  second  in  command  under  himself,  and 
now  dreaded  an  intriguer  in  a  poor  brigadier !  He  did,  he  w 


236  LIFE     OP     A  AEON     BUKB. 

ever,  propose  it  to  the  triumvirate,  at  least  to  Hamilton.  But 
I  was  not  permitted  to  nominate  Burr.  If  I  had  been,  what 
would  have  been  the  consequences  ?  Shall  I  say  that  Hamil 
ton  would  have  been  now  alive,  and  Hamilton  and  Burr  now 
at  the  head  of  our  affairs  ?  What  then  ?  If  I  had  nominated 
Burr  without  the  consent  of  the  triumvirate,  a  negative  in 
Senate  was  certain." 

The  biographer  of  John  Adams  (the  grandson  of  that  im 
petuous  old  patriot),  gives  other  particulars.  He  says  that 
during  the  presidency  of  Mr.  Adams,  while  the  French  ex 
citement  was  at  its  height,  and  war  seemed  certain,  Hamilton, 
Knox,  and  C.  C.  Pinckney  were  nominated  as  next  in  rank  to 
General  Washington  in  the  army  then  forming.  But  it  was 
left  uncertain  who  of  the  three  should  be  the  second  in  com' 
mand.  The  Federalists  clamored  for  Hamilton.  (Hamilton 
himself  declared,  in  effect,  that  he  would  accept  of  nothing 
less.)  The  President  invited  Washington  to  decide  the  ques 
tion.  But  between  the  general's  preference  for  Hamilton,  and 
his  reluctance  to  wound  the  feelings  of  the  veteran  Knox,  he 
hesitated  so  long  that  the  intriguers  of  Adams's  cabinet  adopt 
ed  an  expedient  to  hasten  his  decision.  "  In  the  casual  con- 
versations  of  the  cabinet,"  says  Mr.  Francis  Adams,  "  the 
President  had  let  drop  some  intimation  of  a  wish  to  give  a 
share  of  the  commissions  to  leading  military  men  of  the  op 
position.  Among  the  names  mentioned  by  him  were  those 
of  Aaron  Burr,  and  Peter  Muhlenburg,  of  Pennsylvania. 
Knowing  the  strong  dislike  entertained  of  the  former  by 
Washington,  intimations  were  soon  given  him  of  the  tenden 
cies  of  the  President,  and  the  possibility  that  he  might  be  lia 
ble  to  have  Burr  forced  upon  him  as  quarter-master-general, 
or  in  some  other  confidential  post."  This  was  enough.  Ham- 
Jton  was  soon  named  second  in  command,  and  Knox  resigned 
in  disgust. 

Thus,  again,  Hamilton  triumphed,  and  in  a  signal  mannei 
over  his  rival,  whom,  indeed,  he  seemed  now  to  have  finally 
distanced.  From  a  story  told  by  General  Wilkinson,  who 
visited  New  York  about  this  time,  we  may  infer  that  Hamiltoo 
himself  had  come  to  regard  Burr  in  the  light  of  a  spent  poli 


MEMBER     OF     THE     ASSEMBLY     AGAIN.  237 

tician.  Wilkinson  paid  his  respects  to  General  Hamilton  as 
»oon  as  he  arrived  in  the  city,  when  the  following  conversa 
tion  took  place  between  the  two  officers : 

"  Well,  sir,"  said  Wilkinson,  "  having  fatigued  you  with  my 
prattle,  I  now  propose  to  visit  an  old  friend  whom  I  have  not 
seen  for  several  years ;  but  I  hope  there  is  no  disagreement 
between  you  which  might  render  the  renewal  of  my  acquaint 
ance  with  him  indecorous  to  my  superior  officer." 

Hamilton  asked  if  he  meant  Colonel  Lamb. 

"No,"  said  Wilkinson,  "  Colonel  Burr." 

"  Little  Burr  !"  exclaimed  Hamilton,  "  O  no  ;  we  have  al 
ways  been  opposed  in  politics,  but  always  on  good  terms, 
We  set  out  in  the  practice  of  the  law  at  the  same  time,  and 
took  opposite  political  directions.  Burr  beckoned  me  to  fol 
low  him,  and  I  advised  him  to  come  with  me.  We  could  not 
agree,  but  I  fancy  he  now  begins  to  think  he  was  wrong  and 
I  was  right." 

This  is  in  a  different  strain  from  the  "  embryo  Caesar"  epis 
tle  of  a  few  years  before  ;  but  Hamilton  was  now  talking  to 
Burr's  particular  friend,  his  brother  aid-de-camp  in  the  Que 
bec  expedition,  and  his  confidential  correspondent  ever  since. 
Besides,  he  only  said  he  was  on  "good  terms"  with  "little 
Burr."  The  tone  of  condescending  superiority  and  conscious 
triumph  in  the  words  used  by  Hamilton  in  speaking  of  Burr, 
is  the  noticeable  feature  of  Wilkinson's  story. 

At  the  next  session  of  the  legislature,  1799,  Colonel  Bun 
obtained  a  signal  advantage  over  the  wealthy  Federalists  of 
the  city. 

At  that  time  there  was,  besides  a  branch  of  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States,  but  one  banking  institution  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  and  that  was  controlled  by  Federalists,  who,  as  the 
Republicans  alleged,  used  their  powers  for  the  furtherance  of 
the  Federal  cause.  Both  of  these  banks  were,  to  a  considera 
ble  degree,  the  creation  of  General  Hamilton,  and  both  were 
inclined  to  support  and  advance  the  author  of  their  existence. 
The  Republican  merchants,  it  is  said,  had  long  been  accus 
tomed  to  see  their  Federal  competitors  "  accommodated"  by 
xhe  banks,  while  their  own  applications  for  aid  were  supercil 


238  LIFE     OF     AAEON     SURE. 

lously  refused ;  and  it  was  their  cherished  scheme  to  estab 
lish  a  bank  which  should  be  as  complaisant  toward  them  as 
the  "  Bank  of  New  York"  was  supposed  to  be  to  traders  of 
the  other  party.  But  this  was  difficult.  Besides  a  chronic 
prejudice  against  banks  in  the  popular  mind,  they  had  to  con 
tend  against  a  Federal  majority  in  the  legislature,  which  alone 
could  grant  a  charter.  In  these  circumstances,  Colonel  Burr, 
by  an  ingenious  maneuver,  accomplished  what,  by  direct 
means,  could  not  have  been  done. 

The  yellow  fever  had  recently  made  dreadful  ravages  in  the 
city,  and  impressed  upon  the  people  the  importance  of  secur 
ing  a  supply  of  better  water  than  that  furnished  by  the  brack 
ish  wells  in  the  lower  part  of  the  island.  Burr  availed  him 
self  of  this  state  of  public  feeling.  The  legislature  were  asked 
to  charter  the  Manhattan  Company,  formed  for  the  ostensi 
ble  purpose  of  supplying  the  city  with  water,  but  the  real  ob 
ject  of  which  was  to  supply  Republicans  with  the  sinews  of 
war.  It  was  uncertain,  the  petitioners  said,  how  much  capital 
the  proposed  water-works  would  require,  but  as  it  was  highly 
lesirable  not  to  risk  failure  by  a  deficiency  of  capital,  they 
asked  authority  to  raise  two  millions  of  dollars.  In  all  proba 
bility,  they  added,  this  would  be  too  much,  and,  therefore, 
they  proposed  to  insert  in  the  charter  a  provision  that  "  the 
surplus  capital  might  be  employed  in  any  way  not  inconsist 
ent  with  the  laws  and  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  or  of 
the  State  of  New  York."  The  bill  passed  both  Houses  as  a 
natter  of  course,  few  members  even  so  much  as  reading  it, 
~nd  none,  except  those  who  were  in  the  secret,  suspecting 
that  "  Manhattan  Company"  meant  Manhattan  Sank.  Burr 
gained  great  applause  among  the  leading  Republicans  for  his 
adroitness  in  this  affair,  but  he  lost  character  with  the  people, 
and  the  act  stands  justly  condemned  in  the  records  of  the 
time. 

These  are  the  naked  facts  of  the  affair ;  but  there  were 
palliating  circumstances,  beside  the  alleged  misuse  of  the  cap 
,tal  of  the  other  bank.  It  was  proposed  in  the  select  commit* 
tee  of  the  Senate,  to  which  the  bill  was  referred,  to  strike  out 
the  clause  relating  to  the  use  of  the  surplus  capital ;  where* 


MEMBEB     OF     THE     ASSEMBLY     AGAIN.  239 

npon  a  member  of  the  committee  applied  to  Colonel  Burr  for 
an  explanation.  Burr  avowed  the  design  of  using  the  surplus 
capital  to  establish  a  bank,  or  an  East  India  Company,  or  any 
thing  else  the  directors  might  choose,  since  merely  furnishing 

city  of  fifty  thousand  inhabitants  with  water  would  not  re 
nunerate  the  stockholders.  The  bill  was  afterward  referred 
to  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  State,  who  advised  its  rejection  on 
account  of  the  unlimited  powers  conferred  by  the  surplus  clause. 
Means  were  found,  however,  to  overrule  his  objections,  and 
Governor  Jay  signed  the  bill.  Nevertheless,  the  great  fact 
remains,  that,  in  this  business,  Colonel  Burr  sought  one  object 
under  cover  of  another,  a  kind  of  political  management  which 
can  never  be  commended,  and  seldom  excused. 

Whether  any  show  was  ever  made  of  bringing  in  the  water, 
does  not  appear ;  but  the  bank  was  immediate7/  established, 
and  soon  became  an  institution  of  the  first  importance.  And 
though  it  was  one  of  the  engines  of  Burr's  political  destruc 
tion,  yet,  in  after  years,  when  he  was  obscure  and  powerless, 
the  Manhattan  bank,  as  I  have  been  told,  was  not  unmindful 
of  the  man  to  whom  it  owed  its  establishment,  and  showed 
him  favors  which  it  would  not  have  granted  to  any  other  in  his 
situation. 

The  immediate  effect  of  the  Manhattan  affair  was  injurious 
to  the  Republican  party.  In  the  spring  of  1799,  Burr  was  a 
candidate  for  reelection  to  the  Assembly,  but  before  the  elec~ 
tion  occurred,  the  secret  of  the  Manhattan  company  escaped, 
and  a  prodigious  clamor  arose.  A  pamphlet  appeared  de 
nouncing  banks  in  general,  and  in  particular  the  means  by 
which  Burr  had  sprung  a  new  one  upon  a  bank-fearing  city. 
The  newspapers  took  up  the  story,  and  meetings  denounced 
the  dexterous  maneuver.  The  result  was,  that  Burr  lost  hia 
election,  and,  what  was  worse,  the  whole  Republican  ticket 
was  defeated,  and  the  Republican  cause,  which  before  had 
been  gaining  ground,  received  an  ominous  check.  This  was 
the  more  serious  from  the  fact  that,  in  twelve  months  more, 
tti«  legislature  was  to  be  eiected  upon  which  would 
%he  duty  of  choosing  presidential  electors ! 


240  LIFE     OF     AARON     BUR&. 

In  the  summer  of  1799,  Colonel  Burr  fought  his  first  duel, 
There  was  a  piece  of  scandal  set  afloat  in  the  State,  to  the 
effect  that,  for  legislative  services  rendered,  the  Holland  Land 
Company  had  canceled  a  bond  held  against  Burr  for  twenty 
thousand  dollars.  A  gentleman  named  John  B.  Church,  had 
epoken  with  so  much  freedom  respecting  the  rumor,  as  to  elicit 
from  the  slandered  legislator  a  challenge  to  mortal  combat.  At 
Hoboken,  on  the  2d  of  September,  the  parties  met,  attended 
by  their  seconds  and  a  surgeon.  A  ridiculous  incident  varied 
tfc«e  well-known  routine  of  the  proceedings,  and  furnished  tht; 
tovrn-gossip  with  a  joke  and  a  by-word  for  many  a  day.  Be 
fore  leaving  home,  Colonel  Burr  had  been  particular  to  explain 
to  nis  second,  Judge  Burke,  of  South  Carolina,  that  the  balls 
were  cast  too  small  for  his  pistols, "and  that  chamois  leather, 
cut  to  the  proper  size,  must  be  greased  and  put  round  them  tf 
make  them  fit.  Leather  and  grease  were  placed  in  the  cas. 
with  the  pistols.  After  the  principals  had  been  placed,  Burr 
noticed  Judge  Burke  vainly  endeavoring  to  drive  in  the  ram 
rod  with  a  stone,  and  at  once  suspected  that  the  grease  had 
been  forgotten.  A  moment  after,  the  pistol  was  handed  to 
him.  With  that  singular  coolness  which  he  was  wont  to  ex 
hibit  at  critical  moments,  he  drew  the  ramrod,  felt  of  the  ball, 
and  told  the  judge  it  was  not  home. 

"  I  know  it,"  replied  the  second,  wiping  the  perspiration 
from  his  face,  "  I  forgot  to  grease  the  leather ;  but,  you  see, 
your  man  is  ready ;  don't  keep  him  waiting.  Just  take  a 
crack  as  it  is,  and  I'll  grease  the  next." 

Shots  were  exchanged  without  effect.  Mr,  Church  then 
made  the  requisite  apology,  and  the  parties  returned  to  the 
city  in  the  highest  good  humor. 

This  affair  of  the  Holland  Company's  bond  was  never  ex 
plained  to  the  public  by  Colonel  Burr,  though  the  means  of 
doing  so  were  at  hand.  He  never  in  his  life  took  pains  to  re 
fute  a  calumny  in  a. public  manner,  or  showed  much  regard  for 
what  is  called  public  opinion.  This  was  both  a  point  of  pride 
and  a  constitutional  peculiarity.  It  was  a  quality  which  alone 
must,  some  time  or  other,  have  made  him  an  unavailable  can 


MEMBER     OP     THE     ASSEMBLY     AGAIN.  241 

iidate  for  an  office  in  the  gift  of  the  people  ;  for  the  attain 
ment  of  popularity  in  a  republic,  is  a  study,  a  pursuit,  a  thing 
about  which  a  man  must  never  be  careless.  Hence  in  repub 
lics,  after  the  old  virtue  is  exhausted,  and  before  the  new 
virtue  acquires  strength,  only  nonentities  and  hypocrites  are 
available  ;  since,  to  true  men,  the  very  idea  of  seeking  popu 
larity  is  loathsome.  Burr  was  not,  indeed,  a  downright 
straight-forward  politician,  such  as  every  one  admires  and  no 
one  supports ;  but  he  never  descended  to  the  mean  arts  of 
making  personal  capital. 

With  regard  to  this  scandal,  he  had  but  to  show  that  the 
canceling  of  the  bond  was  a  perfectly  legitimate  transaction, 
by  which  he  lost,  not  gained — facts  known  to  half  a  dozen  per 
sons  whose  word  no  one  would  have  doubted — and  it  would 
never  more  have  been  mentioned  to  his  discredit.  But  this 
slight  concession  his  pride  refused.  To  a  friend  who  asked  for 
an  explanation,  he  stated  the  facts  of  the  case,  and  added 
these  words  :  "  This,  sir,  is  the  first  time  in  my  life  that  I  have 
condescended  (pardon  the  expression)  to  refute  a  calumny.  I 
leave  it  to  my  actions  to  speak  for  themselves,  and  to  my  char 
acter  to  confound  the  fictions  of  slander.  And  on  this  very 
subject  I  have  not  up  to  this  hour«given  one  word  of  explana 
tion  to  any  human  being.  All  the  explanation  that  can  be 
given  amounts  to  no  more  than  this — That  the  thing  is  an 
absolute  and  abominable  lie" 

'  It  does  not  appear  that  his  silence  with  regard  to  the  rumor 
did  any  perceptible  damage  to  Burr  at  the  time.  Before  his 
own  party  his  character  shone  with  all  its  previous  luster,  and 
no  well-informed  Federalist  could  believe  a  story  so  ground 
less  and  improbable.  Nevertheless,  any  whisper  against 
man's  honor,  whether  probable  or  improbable,  whether  be 
lieved  or  scouted,  prepares  the  way  for  the  slanders  that  blast 
Lis  good  name  for  ever. 

The  circumstances  of  Colonel  Burr  at  this  time  were,  as  Mr 
Adams  stated,  embarrassed.  This  was  chiefly  owing  to  the 
unfortunate  issue  of  certain  land  speculations  in  which  he  had 
participated,  and  to  his  devotion  to  politics.  His  practice, 
however,  was  so  large  that,  with  proper  care  and  average  for 

11 


242  LITE     OP     AARON     BURR. 

tune,  he  would  have  recovered  his  losses,  and  founded  an 
estate.  But  just  now,  more  than  ever,  there  was  a  demand 
for  all  the  resources  of  his  mind  in  preparing  for  the  impending 
struggle  between  the  two  great  parties.  To  this  contest  ha 
had  devoted  himsel£ 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE    ELECTION    OF    1800. 

HOOKY  PROSPECTS  OF  THE  KEPUBLIOANS  —  BURR  CONFIDENT  —  FEDERAL  EBROBS  —  L\ 
BEST  OF  JUDGE  PECK  —  HAMILTON'S  SCHEME  FOB  CHEATING  THE  PEOPLE  —  JOE* 
ADAMS'S  NARRATIVE  —  BURR'S  TACTICS  —  HE  WINS  OVER  GENERAL  GATES  —  JUDGI 

BpaNGSTON  AND  GOVERNOR  CLINTON  —  HAMILTON  AND   BURS  AT  THE  POLLS  —  TH« 

WOTORY —  HAMILTON'S  UNWORTHY  EXPEDIENTS  —  BURR  FRUSTRATES  THEM — Tra 
TIB  BETWEEN  JEFFERSON  AND  BURR. 

IT  was  Aaron  Burr  who  taught  the  democratic  party  how 
to  conquer. 

The  prospect  was  gloomy.  As  the  time  for  choosing  presi 
dential  electors  drew  near,  it  became  apparent  that  the  State 
of  New  York  would  decide  the  contest  in  the  Union,  and  that 
the  city  would  decide  the  contest  in  the  State.  To  every 
leading  Republican  in  the  country,  except  one,  defeat  looked 
inevitable.  John  Jay,  in  1798,  had  been  elected  governor 
over  Chancellor  Livingston  by  a  majority  of  2,382,  which  was 
then  a  great  majority.  In  1799,  the  Republican  ticket  in  the 
city,  headed  by  the  name  of  Aaron  Burr,  had  been  defeated 
by  a  majority  of  900.  In  April,  1800,  the  electing  legislature 
was  to  be  chosen.  Jefferson  might  well  say,  as  he  did  say, 
one  month  before  the  New  York  election,  that  he  considered 
the  contest  more  doubtful  than  that  of  1796.  But  Burr  would 
not  admit  the  idea  of  failure.  He  breathed  the  fire  of  his  own 
sanguine  disposition  into  the  hearts  of  his  followers,  and  kept 
every  faculty  on  the  alert  to  take  instant  advantage  of  the  en 
emy's  mistakes. 

His  house  became  the  rendezvous  of  the  more  ardent  and 
resolute  members  of  the  party,  who  were  proud  of  their  chief, 
jtnd  confident  that  in  the  abounding  resources  of  his  ingenious 
intellect  alone  lay  the  means  of  victory.  Mr.  Davis  tells  us 
that  this  devoted  band  was  composed  of  young  men  of  gal 


244  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BURR. 

lant  bearing  and  disinterested  views,  who  beheld  in  Colonel 
Burr  a  patriot  hero  of  the  Revolution,  who  had  mingled  with 
Jheir  fathers  on  the  battle-field,  and  periled  his  all  in  their 
country's  cause.  In  this  circle  no  local  or  personal  interests 
were  allowed  to  be  discussed.  One  object  alone  was  ever 
mentioned  or  considered,  and  that  was  the  triumph  of  the  Re 
publican  party.  The  talents,  the  energy,  the  reckless  courage 
and  the  reckless  generosity  of  the  young  politicians,  whom  th» 
fascinating  manner  and  chivalrous  sentiments  of  Colonel  Burr 
had  attracted  and  leagued  around  him,  are  testified  to  by 
many  writers  of  the  time. 

\  \  Then  it  was  that  the  party  began  to  submit  to  that  disci 
.pline  which  gave  it  twenty-five  years  of  victory.  "  All  who 
numbered  themselves  as  its  members,"  says  Professor  Ren- 
wick  (Life  of  De  Witt  Clinton),  "  were  required  to  yield 
implicit  obedience  to  the  will  of  its  majority ;  that  majority 
was  made  to  move  at  the  beck  of  committees,  which  concen 
trated  the  power  in  the  hands  of  a  few  individuals.  Denunci 
ation  as  a  traitor  was  the  fate  of  him  who  ventured  to  act  in 
conformity  to  his  individual  opinion,  when  it  did  not  meet 
with  the  general  sanction."  This  omnipotent  organization 
was  not  completed  in  a  campaign,  but  it  began  in  1799,  and 
grew  out  of  the  precepts  and  the  example  of  Aaron  Burr  and 
his  'myrmidons.' 

The  efforts  of  Burr  and  his  friends  were  most  opportunely 
assisted  by  the  "errors  of  the  Federalists.  The  government 
was  exasperating  a  loyal  nation  by  its  stringent  enforcement 
jf  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws.  Thirty  thousand  Frenchmen 
sind  five  thousand  "  United  Irishmen,"  refugees  from  political 
storms  at  home,  now  felt  themselves  unsafe  in  the  land  which 
had  been  extolled  as  the  asylum  for  the  oppressed  of  all  na 
tions.  They  were  loud  and  furious  against  the  law  which 
empowered  the  President  to  banish  aliens  whom  Tie  should 
deem  dangerous  to  the  peace  of  the  United  States.  Among 
the  victims  of  the  Sedition  Law  was  the  pious  politician,  Judge 
Peck,  who  was  prosecuted  for  merely  circulating  a  bitterly, 
worded  petition  for  the  repeal  of  the  odious  laws.  Nothing 
better  could  have  happened  for  the  Republicans.  A  bench? 


THE     ELECTION     OF     1800.  245 

Warrant  was  issued.  Peck  was  arrested  in  Otsego,  and  eon- 
reyed  all  the  way  to  New  York,  affording  to  the  State  an  un 
paralleled  and  rousing  spectacle.  "  A  hundred  missionaries  in 
the  cause  of  democracy,"  remarks  Dr.  Hammond,  "  stationed 
between  New  York  and  Cooperstown,  could  not  have  done  so 
much  for  the  Republican  cause  as  the  journey  of  Judge  Peck, 
as  a  prisoner,  from  Otsego  to  New  York.  It  was  nothing  less 
than  the  public  exhibition  of  a  suffering  martyr  for  the  free 
dom  of  speech  and  the  press,  and  the  right  of  petitioning,  to 
the  view  of  the  citizens  of  the  various  places  through  which 
the  marshal  traveled  with  his  prisoner." 

Yet  such  was  the  horror  of  democracy  in  the  northern 
States,  after  the  total  failure  of  the  French  Revolution,  and 
such  was  the  strength  of  old  habits  and  ideas,  that  even  events 
like  these  were  not  sufficient  to  change  the  politics  of  the 
nation. 

But  there  was  trouble  brewing  between  the  Federal  lead 
ers.  In  spite  of  his  cabinet,  Mr.  Adanis  had  made  peace  with 
France,  and  thus  frustrated  the  military  aspirations  of  General 
Hamilton.  Besides,  Adams  was  a  most  unmanageable  man. 
He  did  not  like  Hamilton,  and  Hamilton  could  not  endure 
him,  and  was  determined,  by  fair  means  or  by  foul,  to  get  rid 
of  him.  By  fair  means,  this  could  not  have  been  done,  for, 
in  New  England,  the  home  and  stronghold  of  Federalism, 
Adams  was  the  strongest  man.  Hamilton's  scheme  was,  that 
John  Adams  and  C.  C.  Pinckney  should  be  the  Federal  candi 
dates  for  President  and  Vice-President,  but  Pinckney  should, 
by  secret  maneuvers,  be  made  to  receive  a  vote  or  two  more 
than  Adams,  and  thus  be  elected  to  the  first  office.  The  peo 
ple  were  to  be  deliberately  cheated.  They  were  to  be  deluded 
with  the  idea,  that,  while  voting  for  certain  legislators,  they 
were  voting  John  Adams  into  a  second  term  of  the  Presi 
dency  ;  but  their  votes  were  really  to  have  the  effect  of  put 
ting  Adams  back  again  into  the  Vice-Presidency,  and  of 
inaking  General  Pinckney  Prescient ! 

John  Adams's  own  graphic  version  of  the  story  is  as  fol- 
ows:  "Hamilton  made  a  iourney  to  Boston,  Providence,  etc., 
>o  persuade  the  people  and  their  legislatures,  but  without  suo- 


246  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

cess,  to  throw  away  some  of  their  votes,  that  Adams  might 
not  have  the  unanimous  vote  of  New  England ;  consequently, 
ohat  Pinckney  might  be  brought  in  as  President,  and  Adama 
as  Vice-President.  Washington  was  dead,  and  the  Cincinnati 
were  assembled  at  New  York  to  choose  Hamilton  for  their 
new  President.  Whether  he  publicly  opened  his  project  to 
the  whole  assembly  of  the  Cincinnati  or  not,  I  will  not  say ; 
but  of  this  I  have  such  proof  as  I  can  not  doubt,  namely,  that 
he  broached  it  privately  to  such  members  as  he  could  trust ; 
for  the  learned  and  pious  doctors,  Dwight  and  Badcock,  who, 
having  been  chaplains  in  the  army,  were  then  attending  as 
two  reverend  knights  of  the  order,  with  their  blue  ribbons 
and  bright  eagles  at  their  sable  button-holes,  were  heard  to 
say  repeatedly  in  the  room  where  the  society  met,  c  We  must 
sacrifice  AdamsJ  4  We  must  sacrifice  Adams?  Of  this  fact  I 
have  such  evidence  that  I  should  dare  to  appeal,  if  it  were 
worth  while,  to  the  only  survivor,  Dr.  Dwight,  of  New  Haven 
University. 

"  About  the  same  time,  walking  in  the  streets  of  Philadel 
phia,  I  met  on  the  opposite  sidewalk,  Colonel  Joseph  Lyman, 
of  Springfield,  one  of  the  most  amiable  men  in  Congress,  and 
one  of  the  most  candid  men  in  the  world.  As  soon  as  he  saw 
me  he  crossed  over  to  my  side  of  the  street,  and  said,  *  Sir,  I 
cross  over  to  tell  you  some  news.'  '  Ay !  what  news  ?  I 
hope  it  is  good !'  4  Hamilton  has  divided  the  Federalists,  and 
proposed  to  them  to  give  you  the  go-by,  and  bring  in  Pinck 
ney.  By  this  step  he  has  divided  the  Federalists,  and  given 
great  offense  to- the  honestest  part  of  them.  I  am  glad  of  it, 
for  it  will  be  the  ruin  of  his  faction.'  My  answer  was,  c  Colo 
nel  Lyman,  it  will  be,  as  you  say,  the  ruin  of  his  faction  ;  but 
it  will  also  be  the  ruin  of  honester  men  than  any  of  them. 
And  with  these  words  I  marched  on,  and  left  him  to  march 
the  other  way.' 

"  I  was  soon  afterward  informed,  by  personal  witnesses  and 

private  letters,  that  Hamilton  had  assembled  a  meeting  of  the 

citizens  and  made  an  elaborate  harangue  to  them.     He  spoke 

of  the  President,  John  Adams,  with  respect !     But  with  what 

espect,  I  leave  you,  sir,  to  conjecture.    Hamilton  soon  after 


THE     ELECTION    OF     1800.  24" 

sailed  another  and  more  secret  caucus  to  prepare  a  list  of 
representatives  for  the  city  of  New  York,  in  their  State  leg« 
islature,  who  were  to  choose  electors  of  President  and  Vice- 
President.  He  fixed  upon  a  list  of  his  own  friends,  people  of 
tittle  weight  or  consideration  in  the  city  or  the  country.  Burr,  / 
who  had  friends  in  all  circles,  had  a  copy  of  this  list  brought  to 
Mm  immediately.  He  read  it  over,  with  great  gravity  folded 
it  up,  put  it  in  his  pocket,  and  without  uttering  another  word, 
said,  *  Now  I  have  him  hollow.'  " 

And  he  really  had  him  hollow.  In  a  moment,  the  meana 
of  carrying  the  city,  upon  which  all  depended,  flashed  upon 
bis  mind,  and  he  proceeded  forthwith  to  execute  the  scheme. 

His  first  step  was  to  prepare  a  list  of  candidates  to  represent 
the  city  in  the  Assembly.  But  a  difficulty  arose  at  the  very 
outset :  Hamilton's  whole  heart  was  in  this  election,  and  it 
was  certain  that  he  would  take  an  active  personal  part  in  the 
campaign  ;  and  that,  particularly,  during  the  three  days  of 
the  election,  his  harangues  to  the  people  would  be  more  effect 
ive  than  ever  before.  Burr,  too,  must  be  on  the  ground. 
It  was  also  thought  indispensable  to  the  complete  success  of 
the  plan,  that  he  should  be  a  member  of  the  legislature.  But 
if  his  name  were  on  the  city  ticket,  it  would  neutralize  his  ex- 
ertions,  as  he  would  seem  to  be  electioneering  and  haranguing 
for  himself.  Some  votes  would  also  be  diverted  from  the  Re 
publican  side  by  the  recollection  of  Burr's  agency  in  the  Man 
hattan  Bank  affair.  In  this  dilemma,  it  was  suggested  that  he 
should  be  a  candidate  for  the  Assembly  in  Orange  county, 
where  he  was  better  known  and  more  popular  than  in  any 
other  county.  This  part  of  the  plan  was  confided  to  influen 
tial  Democrats  of  that  county,  and,  it  may  as  well  be  stated  at 
fence,  was  successful. 

This  matter  disposed  of,  the  city  ticket  was  drawn  up. 
With  matchless  audacity,  Burr  proposed  to  his  confederates 
the  following  persons  as  candidates  for  the  Assembly.  At 
the  head  of  his  ticket,  he  placed  the  name  of  George  Clin 
ton,  so  iong  the  Governor  ot  the  State,  now  retired  from 
all  public  employments,  and  declining  into  the  vale  of  years, 
N"ext  came  the  name,  not  less  distinguished,  of  the  conqueroi 


£48  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BURB. 

of  Burgoyne,  General  Horatio  Gates.  Then  followed  Samuel 
Osgood,  Henry  Rutgers,  Elias  Neusen,  Thomas  Storm,  George 
Warner,  Philip  J.  Arcularius,  James  Hunt,  Ezekiel  Robbing, 
Brockholst  Livingston,  and  John  Swartwout ;  all  of  them  gen 
tlemen  who,  for  one  reason  or  another,  added  peculiar  strength 
to  the  ticket.  Osgood,  for  example,  had  been  a  member  of 
Congress,  and  Washington's  Postmaster- General,  and  was  a 
man  of  the  highest  estimation  in  the  city.  Livingston  was  a 
very  eminent  lawyer,  afterward  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States.  He  was  a  son  of  that  Governor  of  New 
Jersey  whose  noble  eulogy  of  Burr's  father  I  have  elsewhere 
quoted.  Swartwout,  very  popular  for  his  manly  bearing  and 
amiable  qualities,  was  Burr's  most  devoted  friend.  The  name 
of  Rutgers  is  still  familiar  in  a  New  Yorker's  ear,  as  it  lives  in 
that  of  the  street  where  he  resided.  In  a  word,  Burr's  ticket, 
from  the  celebrity  of  some  of  its  names,  the  eminent  respect 
ability  of  others,  and  the  peculiar  popularity  of  the  rest,  was 
the  strongest  ever  offered  for  the  popular  suffrages  in  this 
State.  Above  all,  it  was  an  obvious  and  striking  contrast  to 
Hamilton's. 

To  draw  up  an  imposing  catalogue  of  names  is  not  a  diffi 
cult  feat.  To  induce  those  gentlemen  to  stand  was  a  matter 
beset  with  difficulties,  such  as,  perhaps,  no  man  in  the  world 
could  have  overcome  but  Aaron  Burr.  The  consent  of  the 
nine  less  known  persons  was  obtained  without  much  trouble. 
But  Clinton,  Livingston,  and  Gates,  each  representing  a  fac 
tion  of  the  great  Republican  party,  each  with  personal  aims, 
claims  and  jealousies,  neither  disposed  to  act  with  the  others, 
were,  for  a  long  time,  deaf  to  arguments  and  to  entreaties, 
and  immovable  in  their  resolve  not  to  allow  their  names  to 
be  used.  Gates  was  one  of  Burr's  peculiar  adherents,  and  ex 
tremely  averse  to  Hamilton  and  Schuyler,  with  whom  he  had 
been  ill  friends  ever  since  the  time  of  the  cabal  in  the  revolu» 
tionary  war.  Yet  neither  his  friendship  for  Burr  nor  his  en 
mity  to  Schuyler,  nor  his  party  spirit,  nor  all  these  together 
were  strong  enough  to  overcome  his  repugnance  to  being  a 
candidate.  Livingston  proved  the  most  tractable.  After  re 
oeated  interviews,  Burr  wrung  from  him  a  reluctant  consent 


THE     ELECTION     OF     1800.  249 

to  run,  provided  Governor  Clinton  and  General  Gates  were 
candidates  also. 

This  was  a  great  point  gained.  Burr  now  applied  himself  to 
Gates  with  redoubled  energy.  There  are  vague  traditions 
that  the  art  with  which  Burr  worked  upon  the  foibles  and 
judgment  of  Gates  was  among  the  finest  displays  of  his  peou 
liar  talent.  When  all  other  expedients  failed,  he  resorted  to 
importunate  persuasions,  and  the  general  was  induced  at  last 
to  say  that  he  would  stand,  if  Governor  Clinton  would. 

But  Clinton  was  the  hardest  case  of  all.  Clinton's  friends 
called  him  a  very  firm  man ;  his  opponents  thought  him  very 
obstinate.  His  portrait  shows  the  strong,  downright,  immov 
able,  north-Ireland  character  of  the  man.  He  had  thick 
bushy  eye-brows,  a  well  developed  lower  face  and  double 
chin,  a  closed  large  mouth,  a  scrutinizing  look  out  of  the  eyes,  a 
good  medium  forehead,  with  his  scanty  gray  hair  combed  up  to 
hide  its  bald  summit.  It  is  the  plain,  shaggy-looking  face  of 
an  honest,  wary  north-of-Irelander.  Now  Clinton  himself  had 
pretensions  to  the  presidency.  In  1793,  when  he  received 
fifty  electoral  votes  out  of  a  hundred  and  thirty-two,  and  Jef 
ferson  had  but  four,  it  was  Clinton,  not  Jefferson,  that  seemed 
to  be  on  the  high  road  to  the  presidential  mansion.  The  rea 
sons  that  induce  a  party  to  change  its  standard-bearer  seldom 
convince  the  man  who  is  displaced.  In  a  word,  George  Clin 
ton  did  not  like  Thomas  Jefferson.  He  was  now  solicited  to 
stand  for  the  Assembly,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  helping  Jeffer 
son  into,  the  presidential  chair;  and  he  was  asked  to  do  this 
by  the  man  who,  though  a  stripling  aid-de-camp  when  George 
Clinton  was  the  foremost  man  of  the  State,  and  a  person  of 
national  importance,  had  in  1797  received  thirty  electoral 
votes  to  Clinton's  four !  Governor  Clinton  was  an  able  and 
patriotic  man,  but  such  personal  considerations  as  these  have 
an  influence  over  all  but  the  very  best  of  the  species. 

Burr  never  had  a  harder  task  than  to  win  over  this  strong, 
rejudiced,  determined  man   to  the  purposes  of  the  party. 
Clinton  said  that  he  did  not  think  highly  of  Jefferson's  states 
manship,  and  had  not  faith  in  his  sincerity  as  a  Republican,  noi 
even  in  his  integrity  as  a  man.     He  thought  him  a  trimmer  , 

11* 


250  LIFE     OF     AAKON     BURR. 

and  so  thinking,  he  said  he  could  not  conscientiously  support 
him  for  the  highest  office.  "  But,"  said  the  governor,  on  one 
occasion,  "  if  you,  Mr.  Burr,  were  the  candidate  for  the  pres 
idential  chair,  I  would  act  with  pleasure,  and  with  vigor."  To 
such  objections  as  these,  Burr  replied  in  his  mild,  persuasive 
way,  with  not  the  smallest  appearance  of  effect.  Committees 
and  sub-committees  and  individuals,  by  turns,  besieged  the 
governor's  ear,  for  three  days.  There  was  a  final  interview 
at  length,  between  the  governor  and  the  nominating  com 
mittee,  at  Burr's  own  house.  All  the  old  arguments  were  used, 
and  new  ones  offered.  The  committee  expostulated,  and  the 
committee  entreated,  but  the  tough  old  soldier  stood  to  his 
purpose  with  a  pertinacity  worthy  of  his  race.  Burr  then 
said,  that  it  was  a  right  inherent  in  a  community  to  command 
the  services  of  an  individual  at  a  great  crisis,  and  declared  the 
intention  of  the  party  to  nominate  and  elect  Governor  Clinton, 
without  regard  to  his  inclination.  The  governor  at  last  made 
this  slight  concession,  that  he  would  not  publicly  repudiate  the 
nomination.  He  afterward  agreed  that,  during  the  canvass,  he 
would  refrain,  in  his  ordinary  conversation,  from  denouncing 
Jefferson  in  the  style  that  had  become  habitual  to  him.  The 
old  man  was  true  to  his  promise,  but  neither  he  nor  his  rising 
nephew,  De  Witt  Clinton,  nor  his  son,  nor  any  of  his  connec 
tions,  personally  assisted  in  the  campaign,  as  they  had  been 
wont  to  do  in  previous  contests. 

The  curtain  was  now  lifted.  A  public  meeting  under  im 
posing  auspices  was  held,  at  which  the  ticket  was  announced 
and  ratified  with  enthusiasm.  It  gave  life  and  hope  to  the 
despairing  Republicans.  It  alarmed  the  Federalists,  who,  till 
now,  had  been  confident  of  a  victory. 

In  arranging  the  details  of  the  campaign,  Burr's  skillful 
hand  was  employed  with  good  effect.  The  finance  committee 
had  prepared  a  list  of  the  wealthy  Republicans,  with  the  sum 
which  they  proposed  to  solicit  attached  to  each  name.  On 
Looking  over  the  list,  Colonel  Burr  observed  that  a  certain 
rich  man,  equally  remarkable  for  zeal  and  parsimony,  wa« 
assessed  one  hundred  dollars. 

"  Strike  out  his  name,"  said  Burr,  "  for  you  will  not  get  the 


THE     ELECTION     OP     1800.  251 

money ;  and  from  the  moment  the  demand  is  made  upon  him, 
his  exertions  will  cease,  and  you  will  not  see  him  at  the  polls 
during  the  election." 

The  name  was  erased.  Lower  down  in  the  catalogue,  he 
noticed  the  same  sum  placed  opposite  the  name  of  another 
man  who  was  liberal  with  his  money,  but  incorrigibly  lazy. 

"  Double  it,"  said  he,  "  and  tell  him  no  labor  will  be  er 
pected  from  him,  except  an  occasional  attendance  in  the  com 
mittee-rooms  to  help  fold  the  tickets.  He  will  pay  you  the  two 
hundred  dollars,  and  thank  you  for  letting  him  off  so  easily." 

This  was  done.  The  result,  in  both  cases,  proved  the  truth 
of  Burr's  prediction.  The  lazy  man  paid  the  money  without 
a  demur,  and  the  zealous  man  worked  day  and  night. 

Last  of  all,  Colonel  Burr  devoted  himself  to  operating  di 
rectly  on  the  public  mind.  He  provided  for  a  succession  of 
ward  and  general  meetings,  most  of  which  he  himself  attended 
and  addressed.  He  kept  the  canvass  all  alive  by  his  indefat 
igable  activity.  He  declared  everywhere  that  the  party  really 
had  a  majority  in  the  city  ;  and  it  was  only  necessary  to  awaken 
such  an  interest  in  the  election  as  would  draw  out  every  Re 
publican  vote,  and  the  victory  was  theirs.  This  was  no  ran 
dom  assertion.  By  means  of  lists  of  the  voters,  with  the  polit 
ical  history  of  each,  appended  in  parallel  columns,  which  were 
incessantly  added  to  and  corrected,  as  new  information  was 
obtained,  he  had  reduced  the  important  department  of  polit 
ical  prophecy  almost  to  certainty.  He  would  have  made  it 
quite  certain,  but  for  circumstances  which,  though  they  often 
decide  elections,  can  not,  in  the  nature  of  things,  be  foretold. 
The  weather  of  election  day  is  one  of  these.  In  Burr's  lists, 
ot  only  a  manvs  opinions  were  noted,  but  his  degree  of  zeal, 
his  temperament,  his  health,  his  habits,  all  these  things  were 
taken  into  account,  to  ascertain  what  quantity  of  excitement 
or  inducement  was  necessary  to  overcome  the  fatal  propensity 
}f  the  comfortable  citizen  to  neglect  voting.  Thus,  on  on* 
occasion,  when  Colonel  Burr  was  running  for  office,  and  the 
drst  two  days  of  the  election  had  passed  without  either  can 
didate  getting  a  decided  advantage,  he  said,  "  If  it  is  a  fine 
flay  t~ -morrow  I  shall  get  a  small  majority  in  the  city ;  if  not, 


152  LITE     OP     AARON     BUBK. 

not.'  The  day  was  fine,  and  the  event  justified  his  confident 
prediction.  The  leaders  of  the  party  in  the  city,  knowing  the 
accuracy  and  extent  of  his  information,  received  his  prophe 
cies  of  success  on  the  present  occasion  more  as  information 
than  as  prediction.  They  were  buoyant  with  hope,  that  the 
party,  after  twelve  years  of  defeat,  was  now  on  the  eve  of  a 
national  triumph.* 

The  polls  opened  on  the  morning  of  April  29th,  and  closed 
at  sunset  on  the  2d  of  May.  During  these  three  days,  tho 
exertions  of  both  parties  were  immense.  Hamilton  was  in 
the  field  animating  his  followers  with  his  powerful  declama 
tion.  Burr  addressed  large  assemblages  of  Republicans.  Some 
times  both  champions  appeared  on  the  same  platform,'  and 
addressed  the  multitude  in  turn,  upon  the  questions  in  dispute. 
On  these  occasions,  their  bearing  toward  one  another  was  so 
gracefully  courteous,  as  to  be  remembered  by  many  in  the 
crowd  they  addressed,  long  after  the  matter  of  their  speeches 
was  forgotten. 

The  contest  closed.  Before  the  rival  chiefs  slept  on  the 
night  of  the  2d  of  May,  the  news  was  brought  to  them  that 
the  Republicans  had  carried  the  city  by  a  majority  of  490 
votes. 

Hamilton  was  not  prepared  for  defeat,  and  the  news  struck 
him  like  a  blow.  Nothing  but  some  desperate  expedient 

*  Colonel  Knapp,  author  of  a  short  memoir  of  Burr,  written  in  a  friendly 
spirit,  says  a  few  words  respecting  the  manner  of  Burr's  intercourse  with  the 
oarty  out  of  doors,  which  may  be  quoted  here.  I  copy  it  the  more  willingly, 
oecause  the  great  mass  of  what  I  quote  from  others  respecting  Burr  was  con 
ceived  in  enmity  or  repugnance  to  him.  "Colonel  Burr,"  says  Mr.  Knapp, 
"  never  courted  the  mob  by  mingling  with  them,  and  «haring  their  move 
ments  ;  for  it  was  seldom  they  met  him.  He  made  no  converts  by  pewter 
mug  stories,  and  they  liked  him  the  better  for  all  this  abstraction  from  the 
great  body  of  democracy ;  but  whenever  he  came  in  contact  with  the  hum 
blest  of  his  admirers,  it  was  well  known  that  he  treated  them  so  blandly  that 
his  manners  were  remembered  when  the  whole  conversation  was  forgotten. 
His  manners  were  the  most  courtly  of  any  one  of  his  age.  He  had  not  the 
oarade  of  Morris,  nor  the  gravity  of  Jay ;  but  he  never  for  a  moment  forgot 
Himself  by  assumption  or  too  much  familiarity.  The  self-possession  which 
ae  always  sustained  gave  him  great  advantages  over  other  men  who  are  va» 
tels  to  their  passions,  and  at  times  can  not  hide  their  weaknesses." 


THE     ELECTION     OP     1800.  253 

fould  now  save  the  Union  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the 
Philistines;  and  in  the  frenzy  of  his  disappointment  he  re 
solved  upon  trying  a  desperate  expedient. 

The  next  day,  while  the  city  was  in  the  first  flush  of  excite 
ment  at  the  news,  Hamilton  called  together  a  few  of  the  most 
influential  Federalists,  and  laid  before  them  his  scheme ;  which 
was,  to  induce  Governor  Jay  to  call  an  extra  session  of  the 
old  legislature  (whose  term  of  service  had  still  eight  weeks 
to  run),  for  the  purpose  of  changing  the  mode  of  choosing 
presidential  electors.  Two  years  before,  Burr  had  attempted 
to  carry  a  bill  through  the  legislature,  providing  .hat  the 
electors  should  be  chosen  directly  by  the  people,  voting  by 
districts.  His  object,  since  he  then  despaired  of  getting  a  Re 
publican  majority  in  the  legislature,  was  to  secure  part  of  the, 
electoral  college  of  the  State  for  the  democratic  candidate  at 
the  next  presidential  election.  The  Federalists  saw  hi?  object, 
and  defeated  it,  though  a  juster  measure  was  never  proposed. 
Hamilton,  a  sudden  convert  to  this  policy,  was  now  bent  on 
accomplishing,  by  unworthy  means,  what  Colonel  Burr  had 
honorably  endeavored  before  him.  The  Federal  caucus  jumped 
at  the  mean  expedient,  and  Hamilton,  the  next  day,  wrote  an 
elaborate  letter  to  the  governor,  unfolding  the  plan,  and  urg 
ing  its  instant  execution. 

The  anti-Federal  party,  he  wrote,  was  a  composition  of  very 
incongruous  materials,  but  all  of  them  tending  to  mischief; 
some  to  the  emasculation  of  the  government,  others  to  revolu 
tionizing  it  in  the  style  of  Bonaparte.  The  government  must 
not  be  confided  to  the  custody  of  its  enemies.  True,  the  mea 
sure  proposed  was  open  to  objection.  But  a  popular  govern 
ment  could  not  stand  if  one  party  called  to  its  aid  all  the 
resources  which  vice  could  give,  and  the  other,  however 
pressing  the  emergency,  felt  itself  obliged  to  confine  itself 
within  the  ordinary  forms  of  delicacy  and  decorum.  These 
forms  were  valuable  ;  but  they  ought  not  to  hinder  the  taking 
of  a  step  strictly  legal  and  constitutional,  to  prevent  an  atheist 
w  religion  and  a  fanatic  in  politics  from  getting  possession 
•>f  the  helm  of  State. 

The  letter  was  dispatched.     Judge  of  toe  consternation  of 


254  LIFE     Ol     AAEON    BURR. 

its  author  and  his  caucus  when  they  read,  in  a  Republican 
newspaper  of  the  following  day,  a  full  exposure  of  the  scheme 
including  an  account  of  the  caucus,  its  proceedings,  and  the 
measure  it  had  concluded  to  recommend.  The  public  read 
this  article  with  incredulity.  Even  the  Federal  editors,  who 
were  not  in  the  secret,  denounced  it  as  the  basest  of  slanders. 
44  Where  is  the  American,"  exclaimed  one  of  them,  "  who  will 
not  detest  the  author  of  this  infamous  lie  ?  If  there  is  a  man 
to  be  found  who  will  sanction  this  publication,  he  is  worse  than 
the  worst  of  Jacobins !"  No  doubt,  many  a  Federalist  went 
to  his  grave  in  the  belief  that  the  story  was  a  weak  invention 
of  the  enemy.  Among  the  papers  of  Governor  Jay,  Hamil 
ton's  letter  was  found,  with  this  honest  indorsement,  in  the 
governor's  hand  :  "Proposing  a  measure  for  party  purposes, 
which  I  think  it  would  not  become  me  to  adopt."  For  party 
purposes,  says  the  candid  governor,  summarily  disposing  of 
Hamilton's  self-deceiving  array  of  fine  motives. 

That  Hamilton  should  have  deliberately  made  such  a  pro 
posal,  shows  more  than  the  limitedness  of  his  understanding, 
and  his  ignorance  of  the  state  of  things  in  which  he  lived.  It 
shows  that,  with  all  his  gentlemanliness  of  demeanor  and  feel 
ing,  he  was  not  a  thorough-bred  gentleman ;  a  character,  the 
distinguishing  and  essential  quality  of  which  is,  a  love  of  FAIR 
PLAY.  He  had,  of  his  own  free  will,  gone  down  into  the 
arena,  and  accepted  battle  on  the  known  and  usual  conditions. 
He  was  beaten  famy,  Then  he  attempted,  by  a  secret  and 
unworthy  maneuver,  to  steal  the  laurel  from  the  victor's 
brow  while  he  slept. 

But  the  victor  was  not  asleep.  Before  the  election,  Burr 
had  obtained  an  intimatiop  from  some  quarter  that  if  the  Re 
publicans  should  carry  the  city,  means  would  be  found  to  de 
prive  them  of  the  fruits  of  their  triumph.  Upon  this  hint  he 
acted.  From  the  moment  the  polls  closed  every  movemem 
was  watched.  The  counting  of  the  votes  was  closely  scrutin- 
ized.  The  goings  and  comings  of  the  leading  Federalists  were 
observed,  and  thus  the  meeting  of  the  caucus  was  ascertained, 
*nd  its  schemes  exposed  and  baffled.  The  particular  means 
by  whiet  the  proceedings  of  the  caucus  were  discovered,  J 


THE     ELECTION     OP     1800.  25.' 

nave  not  been  able  to  ascertain  The  whisper  at  the  time  was 
that  Hamilton  and  Burr  were  both  enamored  of  the  same  frail 
woman,  who  really  loved  Burr,  but  endured  Hamilton  only 
that  she  might  beguile  him  of  secrets  with  which  to  ingratiate 
herself  with  his  rival.  I  utterly  disbelieve  this  wretched  gos 
sip.  Nearly  every  such  tale  of  noted  men  proves,  when  exam 
ined,  to  be  a  fable.  Neither  Hamilton  nor  Burr  was  blameless 
toward  women  ;  but  neither  of  them,  I  am  sure,  ever  addicted 
himself  to  the  kind  of  debauchery  which  is  implied  in  the  story 
referred  to. 

The  news  of  the  result  of  the  New  York  election  took  the 
country  by  surprise.  To  Jefferson  all  eyes  were  now  turned 
as  the  man  destined  soon  to  wield  the  power  and  patronage 
of  the  government.  The  Federalists  had  been  so  long  accus 
tomed  to  conquer,  and  the  Republicans  to  be  only  a  vehe 
ment,  despised,  and  hopeless  opposition,  that  the  probability 
of  the  two  parties  changing  positions,  produced  an  effect  which 
may  be  imagined.  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  one  of  his  letters  to  Dr. 
Rush,  records  the  effect  of  the  startling  intelligence  upon  the 
mind  of  President  Adams. 

"  On  the  day,"  wrote  Jefferson,  "  on  which  we  learned  in 
Philadelphia  the  vote  of  the  city  of  New  York,  which  it  was 
well  known  would  decide  the  vote  of  the  State,  and  that  again 
the  vote  of  the  Union,  I  called  on  Mr.  Adams  on  some  official 
business.  He  was  very  sensibly  affected,  and  accosted  me 
with  these  words :  '  Well,  I  understand  that  you  are  to  beat 
me  in  this  contest,  and  I  will  only  say  that  I  will  be  as  faith 
ful  a  subject  as  any  you  will  have.' 

"  '  Mr.  Adams,'  said  I,  '  this  is  no  personal  contest  between 
ou  and  me.  Two  systems  of  principles,  on  the  subject  of 
government,  divide  our  fellow-citizens  into  two  parties.  With 
one  of  these  you  concur,  and  I  with  the  other.  As  we  have 
been  longer  on  the  public  stage  than  most  of  those  now  living, 
our  names  happen  to  be  more  generally  known.  One  of  these 
parties,  therefore,  has  put  your  name  at  its  head,  the  other 
mine.  Were  we  both  to  die  to-day,  to-morrow  two  other 
aames  would  be  in  the  place  of  ours,  without  any  change  in 


856  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

the  motion  of  the  machinery.     Its  motion  is  from  its  principle, 
not  from  you  or  myself.' 

"  '  I  believe  you  are  right,'  said  he,  c  that  we  are  but  pa* 
eive  instruments,  and  should  not  suffer  this  matter  to  affect 
our  personal  dispositions.'  " 

Hamilton  did  not  yet  despair.  One  of  his  first  letters,  writ 
ten  after  the  loss  of  New  York,  concedes  the  probability  of  a 
Republican  success,  but  he  adds  that  his  scheme  of  secretly 
supporting  Pinckney  for  the  presidency,  instead  of  Adams, 
"  is  the  only  thing  that  can  save  us  from  the  fangs  of  Jeffer 
son."  A  few  days  after,  he  writes  to  the  same  friend,  that 
"  under  Adams,  as  under  Jefferson,  the  government  will  sink." 
A  week  or  two  later,  to  another  gentleman,  he  quotes  Frank 
lin's  character  of  Adams  ("  always  honest,  sometimes  great, 
but  often  mad"),  and  adds  that  Adams  is  honest  indeed,  but 
only  "  as  far  as  a  man  excessively  vain  and  jealous,  and  igno 
bly  attached  to  place,  can  be."  Thenceforth  Hamilton's  ef 
forts  were  directed  to  the  single  object  of  concentrating  upon 
Pinckney  the  entire  strength  of  the  Federal  party,  north  and 
south.  For  this  he  schemed,  and  wrote,  and  talked,  and  toiled, 
and  traveled  during  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1800.  But 
he  had  a  nimble,  a  dexterous,  a  sleepless  adversary. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  summer,  Hamilton  prepared  a 
pamphlet,  in  which  he  stated  his  reasons  for  objecting  to  the 
reflection  of  the  President,  descanting  freely  upon  his  public 
conduct,  and  his  personal  infirmities.  This  pamphlet  was  en 
titled  :  "  A  Letter  from  Alexander  Hamilton,  concerning  the 
Public  Conduct  and  Character  of  John  Adams,  Esquire,  Pres 
ident  of  the  United  States."  It  was  designed,  first,  to  serve 
as  a  circular  letter  to  very  confidential  friends  in  New  En 
gland,  and,  secondly,  to  be  disseminated  extensively  in  the 
South,  particularly  in  South  Carolina,  at  so  late  a  period  of 
the  canvass  that  the  double-play  could  not  be  known  at  the 
North  till  the  election  was  over.  The  pamphlet  was  sen t  to 
the  printer,  under  the  most  stringent  stipulations  that  the 
A^ork  should  be  executed  secretly,  and  every  copy  delivered 
Into  Hamilton's  own  hands.  The  story  goes,  that  Colone 
Burr,  who  was  ever  an  early  riser,  was  walking  in  the  street* 


THE    ELECTION     OF     1800.  257 

near  Hamilton's  house,  very  early  one  morning,  when  he  met 
a  boy  carrying  a  covered  basket. 

"  What  have  you  there,  my  lad  ?"  asked  Burr,  who  was 
prone  to  accost  young  people  that  he  met  in  the  streets. 

"  Pamphlets  for  General  Hamilton,"  replied  the  boy,  not 
knowing  their  importance. 

Burr  asked  for  one,  and  the  boy  complied  without  hesita 
tion.  Bnrr  took  the  pamphlet,  and,  at  one  glance,  saw  what 
a  prize  chance  had  thrown  in  his  way.  This  is  the  current 
story  •  but  it  is  improbable.  Mr.  Davis  merely  says,  that 
Colonel  Burr,  having  ascertained  that  such  a  pamphlet  was 
in  press,  made  "  arrangements"  for  procuring  a  copy  as  soon 
as  the  printing  should  be  completed.  How  he  obtained  the 
pamphlet  is,  therefore,  uncertain,  but  the  essential  fact  re 
mains,  that  he  obtained  it. 

In  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  he  summoned  to  his  house 
three  of  his  confederates,  John  Swartwout,  Robert  Swart- 
wout,  and  M.  L.  Davis,  to  whom  he  read  the  pamphlet,  and 
unfolded  the  plan  he  had  formed  of  hurling  it,  a  hissing  bomb 
shell,  into  the  camp  of  the  enemy.  He  simply  proposed  to 
give  the  leading  contents  of  the  pamphlet  sudden  and  univer 
sal  publicity.  Extracts  were  accordingly  made  on  the  spot, 
and  Davis  was  charged  with  the  duty  of  procuring  their 
simultaneous  insertion  in  one  of  the  principal  Republican 
journals  of  New  England,  and  in  the  Aurora  of  Philadelphia. 
The  extracts  appeared.  They  produced  all  the  effect  the  bit 
terest  enemy  of  the  Federal  party  could  have  desired.  Aston- 
ishment  and  incredulity,  by  turns,  beset  the  Federal  intellect, 
but  the  publication  of  new  passages,  from  time  to  time,  to 
gether  with  the  popular  recognition  of  Hamilton's  style,  soon 
banished  all  doubt  that  the  great  leader  had  been  playing  a 
double  game.  He  thought  it  best,  at  length,  to  publish  the 
pamphlet  entire,  and  a  few  days  before  the  presidential  elect 
ors  were  to  be  chosen  it  appeared. 

This  exposure  destroyed  the  last  hope  of  the  Federalists. 
4  It  rent  the  party  in  twain,"  as  a  writer  truly  observes.  A 
month  after  the  pamphlet  appeared,  William  Duane,  editor  of 
Vhe  Aurora,  that  terror  of  the  respectable  Federalists,  sent 


258  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BURB. 

a  copy  of  it  to  General  Collot,  of  Paris.  Chance  preserved 
that  copy,  and,  within  these  few  years,  brought  it  back  to  the 
United  States,  with  the  note  that  originally  accompanied  it, 
which  reads  thus : 

"  CITIZEN-GENERAL. — This  pamphlet  has  done  more  mis- 
chief  to  the  parties  concerned,  than  all  the  labors  of  the 
Aurora.  WILLIAM  DTJANE." 

Adams  said  of  it,  that  "  if  the  single  purpose  had  been  to 
defeat  the  President,  no  more  propitious  moment  could  have 
been  chosen."  And  again  :  "  One  thing  I  know,  that  Cicero 
was  not  sacrificed  to  the  vengeance  of  Antony  by  the  unfeel 
ing  selfishness  of  the  latter  triumvirate,  more  egregiously  than 
John  Adams  was  to  the  unbridled  ambition  of  Alexander 
Hamilton  in  the  American  triumvirate  I" 

John  Adams  was,  indeed,  so  thoroughly  disgusted  with 
Hamilton's  treason  to  the  head  of  his  party,  that,  down  to  a 
late  period  of  his  life,  he  could  seldom  write  his  name  without 
adding  to  it  an  epithet  of  repugnance.  Burr  he  always  men 
tions  with  respect. 

Hamilton's  conduct  in  this  business  was  utterly  unjustifiable. 
Not  a  thousand  voters  in  the  country  had  so  much  as  thought 
of  Pinckney  for  President.  In  the  newspapers,  and  the  public 
meetings,  Adams,  and  only  Adams,  was  named  as  the  Fed 
eral  candidate  for  the  first  office.  Hamilton's  intrigue  was 
therefore  a  design  to  frustrate  the  people's  will  by  putting  into 
the  presidential  chair  a  man  who  had  not  even  been  named  for 
the  office  before  the  people.  Two  palliating  circumstances, 
however,  may  be  mentioned.  One  is  that  Hamilton,  being  a 
Tory  by  nature,  had  really  no  conception  of  what  Democrats 
mean  by  the  rights  of  the  people.  Another  is,  that,  at  that 
day,  presidential  electors  were  not  quite  the  mere  formality 
they  have  since  become ;  but  were  supposed  to  nave,  in  some 
degree,  a  right  of  choice.  It  may  also  be  said  of  Alexander 
Hamilton,  that  if  he  intrigued  dishonorably,  he  did  so  from  an 
honorable  motive.  Of  his  rival,  we  may  say,  that  he  intrigued, 
for  the  most  part,  honorably  and  for  good  purposes,  but  with 
out  being  animated  by  public  spirit.  No  one,  I  think,  cac 
long  read  the  writings  of  Hamilton  without  feeling  himself  to 


THE     ELECTION     OF     1800.  269 

be  in  contact  with  a  nature  essentially  good  ;  but  narrow  and 
inflexible  for  that  expanding  age ;  that  era  of  hope,  idea,  and 
invention ;  that  glorious  dawn  of  a  better  Day  than  the  world 
has  ever  known.  He  saw  that  democracy  is  a  resolving  of 
society  back  again  into  its  original  elements  !  Democracy  is 
chaos  he  would  say.  True,  Democracy  contending  with  Privi- 
I  ege  is  chaos.  But  after  chaos  comes  CREATION  ! 

A  President  and  Vice-President  were  now  to  be  chosen  by 
the  electors.  Among  the  Republicans  there  was  but  one  name 
mentioned  for  the  first  office,  and  that  was  Thomas  Jefferson. 
But  for  the  second  there  were  competitors.  In  those  da^s, 
what  we  now  accomplish  by  nominating  conventions,  was  done 
by  party  caucuses  of  the  members  of  Congress.  A  few  days 
after  the  news  of  the  great  New  York  election  reached  Phila 
delphia,  a  Republican  caucus  was  held  for  the  purpose  of  de 
ciding  upon  a  candidate  for  the  vice-presidency.  A  nomina 
tion  was  equivalent  to  an  election,  and  the  caucus  therefore 
proceeded  cautiously.  At  the  first  meeting  it  was  only  set 
tled  that  the  candidate  should  be  selected  from  New  York,  as 
it  was  New  York  that  had  just  made  the  final  victory  more 
than  probable.  A  gentleman  was  appointed  to  converse  with 
the  leading  politicians  of  that  State  and  report  to  the  caucus 
their  preferences.  The  choice,  it  was  found,  lay  between  three 
men,  Chancellor  Livingston,  George  Clinton,  and  Aaron  Burr. 
It  was  at  once  concluded  that  Chancellor  Livingston's  deafness 
was  an  insuperable  objection  to  an  officer  who  would  have  to 
oreside  over  a  deliberative  body,  and  he  was  set  aside.  Clin- 
.  on  and  Burr  were  the  two  remaining.  Of  the  negotiation 
which  resulted  in  the  selection  of  Burr  various  accounts  have 
fceen  given.  The  probable  version  is  that  George  Clinton  de 
sired  the  nomination,  and  that  his  family  and  friends  demanded 
:t  for  him ;  but  that  the  Burrites,  urging  the  palpable  fact, 
that  to  Burr,  and  Burr  alone,  the  democratic  victory  was 
due,  claimed  it  strenuously  for  their  chief.  In  '96,  they 
might  have  urged,  he  had  received  thirty  electoral  votes ;  and 
its  the  party  used  his  name  when  success  was  scarcely  hoped 
for  by  the  most  sanguine,  it  was  but  fair  that  it  should  be 
«aken  up  when  success  was  nearly  certain.  Burr  was  ncmi< 


260  LIFE     OF     AARON    BURR. 

nated.     Clinton  was  soon  after  elected  once  more  to  the  gov 
ernorship  of  the  State. 

Hamilton  was  dreadfully  embittered  against  Burr  by  the 
events  of  this  summer.  The  rage  of  his  "  faction,"  says  John 
Adams,  "  appeared  to  me  then,»and  has  ever  since  appeared, 
an  absolute  delirium."  In  August,  we  find  Hamilton  writing 
to  his  friend  Bayard,  of  Delaware,  in  the  following  strain  upon 
the  prospects  of  the  campaign  : 

"  There  seems  to  be,"  said  he,  "  too  much  probability  that 
Jefferson  or  Burr  will  be  President.  The  latter  is  intriguing 
with  all  his  might  in  New  Jersey,  Rhode  Island,  and  Ver 
mont  ;  and  there  is  a  possibility  of  some  success  in  his  in 
trigues.  He  counts  positively  on  the  universal  support  of  the 
anti-Federalists ;  and  that  by  some  adventitious  aid  from  other 
quarters,  he  will  overtop  his  friend  Jefferson.  Admitting  the 
first  point,  the  conclusion  may  be  realized,  and,  if  it  is  so,  Burr 
will  certainly  attempt  to  reform  the  government  a  la  Buona 
parte.  He  is  as  unprincipled  and  dangerous  a  man  as  any 
country  can  boast — as  true  a  Catiline  as  ever  met  in  midnight 
conclave." 

Hamilton's  assertions  respecting  the  movements  and  char 
acter  of  his  opponents,  are  absolutely  worthless  as  evidence. 
They  show  nothing  but  the  liveliness  of  his  imagination,  the 
intensity  of  his  feelings,  and  the  smallness  of  his  information 
The  passage  quoted  is  about  as  credible  as  a  story  published 
in  the  Boston  Independent  Chronicle,  in  the  summer  of  1800, 
to  the  effect,  that  General  Hamilton  had  been  heard  to  say 
that  "  if  Mr.  Pinckney  was  not  elected  President,  a  revolution 
would  be  the  consequence,  and  that,  within  the  next  four 
years,  he  should  lose  his  head,  or  be  the  leader  of  a  triumph- 
ant  army."  I  do  not  say  that  what  Hamilton  says  of  Burr  was 
certainly  not  true,  but  that  it  is  not  to  be  believed  because 
Hamilton  says  it. 

Other  leading  Federalists  had  no  such  horror  of  our  dexter 
ous  hero.  Some  despairing  of  their  own  candidates,  even  en- 
tertained  the  thought  of  giving  him  votes  enough  to  elect  him 
President  over  Jefferson.  Senator  Cabot,  of  Massachusetts, 
vrote  to  Hamilton  upon  this  project,  in  the  month  of  August 


THE     EJECTION     OF     1800.  261 

"  The  question  has  been  asked,"  said  Cabot,  "  whether,  if  the 
Federalists  can  not  carry  their  first  points,  they  would  not  do 
well  to  turn  the  election  from  Jefferson  to  Burr.  They  conceive 
Burr  to  be  less  likely  to  look  to  France  for  support,  than  Jef 
ferson,  provided  he  could  be  supported  at  home.  They  con 
sider  Burr  as  actuated  by  ordinary  ambition,  Jefferson  by  that 
and  the  pride  of  the  Jacobinical  philosophy.  The  former  may 
be  satisfied  by  power  and  property,  the  latter  must  see  the 
roots  of  our  society  pulled  up,  and  a  new  course  of  cultiva 
tion  substituted  ;  certainly  it  would  have  been  fortunate  for 
the  United  States  if  the  second  candidate  on  the  Jacobin 
side  had  been  one  who  might  be  safely  trusted." 

The  venerable  Carroll,  of  Carrollton,  would  have  preferred 
Burr,  as  he  supposed  Burr  would  "  act  with  more  decision 
than  Jefferson,  and  go  better  with  his  party."  With  either, 
however,  the  old  gentleman  thought  the  country  on  the  road 
to  ruin  ;  Jacobinical  chaos  or  Bonapartean  usurpation  was  sure 
to  overtake  the  doomed  republic,  sooner  or  later.  Among 
the  ultra  Federalists  this  opinion  was  universal. 

About  the  middle  of  December,  the  leaders  of  both  parties 
knew  how  the  election  had  gone.  The  result  struck  both 
sides  with  disappointment :  Jefferson,  73  ;  Burr,  73 ;  Adams, 
65  ;  Pinckney,  64  ;  Jay,  1. 

Such  was  the  doubtful  issue  of  so  many  years  of  labor,  of 
so  much  honorable  effort,  and  so  much  not-very-honorable 
maneuvering.  The  tie,  of  course,  threw  the  election  into  the 
House  of  Representatives.  The  politicians,  instead  of  resting 
from  their  toils,  were  suddenly  stimulated  to  such  an  activity 
of  intrigue  as  never  was  known  before.  The  country  was 
wild  with  excitement.  Aaron  Burr  soared  at  once  into  a  po 
sition  of  national  importance  such  as  he  had  never  before 
held 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

THE   TIE   INTRIGUES. 

Fax  WORKS  OP  WASHINGTON,  JEFFERSON,  ADAMS  AND  HAMILTON  —  LETTEB  FROM  Suss 
TO  WILKINSON  — LETTEE  FROM  JEFFERSON  TO  BUEE  —  LETTEB  FROM  BURR  TO  HON.  8. 
SMITH  APPOINTING  HIM  HIS  PROXY  —  LETTER  FROM  HAMILTON  TO  SECRETARY  WOLCOTTT 
DENOUNCING  BURR —  THE  FEDERALISTS  BENT  ON  ELECTING  BURR  PRESIDENT — LETTEB 
FROM  OTIS  TO  HAMILTON  ASKING  ADVICE  RESPECTING  THE  PROJECT  —  SECOND  LETTER 
FROM  HAMILTON  TO  WOLCOTT  AGAINST  BURR — LETTER  FROM  JEFFERSON  TO  MADISON 
DENOUNCING  THE  FEDERAL  INTRIGUES — HONEST  LETTER  FROM  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS — 
LETTER  FROM  HAMILTON  TO  SEDGWICK,  DENOUNCING  BURR  —  LETTERS  FROM  HAMILTON 
o  MORRIS  AND  BAYARD  AGAINST  BURR  —  REPLIES  OF  MORRIS  AND  BAYARD  TO  HAM- 
LTON  —  LETTER  FROM  GENERAL  GREEN  TO  HAMILTON  —  LETTER  OF  GOVERNOR  KUT- 
LEDGE  TO  HAMILTON  —  SEDGWICK'S  EBPLY  TO  HAMILTON — LONG  LETTER  OF  HAMILTON 
TO  BAYARD  —  HAMILTON  TO  MORRIS  AGAIN  —  THE  ELECTION  IN  THE  HOUSE  —  SCENB 
BETWEEN  JEFFERSON  AND  ADAMS  —  PBOOF  OF  BURR'S  POLITICAL  INTEGRITY  —  TUB 
INAUGURATION. 

WHAT  occurred  among  the  politicians  from  the  middle 
of  December,  when  the  tie  was  first  known,  to  the  middle 
of  February,  when  the  House  voted  upon  it,  shall  be,  as  far 
as  possible,  shown,  not  told.  The  publications  of  the  last  few 
years  enable  us  to  read  the  history  of  that  time  in  the  very 
words  of  its  leading  personages. 

Among  the  volumes  which  "  no  gentleman's  library  is  com 
plete  without,"  and  which,  in  most  gentlemen's  libraries,  slum 
ber  on  the  shelves  with  uncut  leaves,  are  the  forty  ponderous 
octavoes,  containing  the  works  of  George  Washington,  Thomas 
Jefferson,  John  Adams,  and  Alexander  Hamilton.  That  these 
volumes  should  be  so  utterly  neglected  as  they  are  is  not 
creditable  to  the  national  intelligence.  In  the  Mercantile 
Library  of  the  city  of  New  York,  which  counts  its  subscribers 
by  thousands,  the  condition  in  which  these  books  were  found 
by  me,  two  or  three  years  ago,  was  as  follows :  the  first  voL 
ume  of  each  set  showed  marks  of  having  been  taken  out  and 
looked  through,  two  or  three  times.  The  second  volume  had 
evidently  been  handled  by  some  one  adventurous  person,  and 


THE     TIE     INTRIGUES.  26« 

aboat  half  of  its  leaves  were  cut.  Beyond  the  second  volume, 
no  traces  of  the  hand  of  man  were  discovered  ;  a  boundlesa 
continuity  of  virgin  pages  gave  the  reader  a  pleasing  con- 
sciousness  that  he  was  the  explorer  of  untrodden  regions. 
Yet  it  is  by  the  perusal  of  these  works,  aided  by  the  memoirs 
of  the  time,  that  alone  a  knowledge  of  the  country's  history, 
during  the  period  in  which  alone  it  had  a  history,  can  be  ob 
tained.  Along  with  much  that  the  modern  reader  may  skip, 
with  many  essays  upon  government  that  once  were  vital  and 
glowing,  but  can  not  now  be  read  by  any  mortal,  these  works 
contain  a  mass  of  reading,  instructive,  interesting,  and  suggest 
ive. 

The  letters  and  diaries  are  the  best  part  of  them.  These 
are  full  of  life  and  nature.  Some  of  them  are  eloquent  and 
impressive,  the  offspring  of  vigorous  minds,  wrought  up  to 
their  highest  strain  by  having  to  grapple  with  distractingly  dif 
ficult  circumstances.  The  letters  correct  one  another.  None 
of  the  writers,  except  Washington  could  make  due  allowance 
for  one  another's  errors  and  foibles,  and  they  often  speak  of 
political  adversaries  in  terms  of  bitter  depreciation.  Hamilton 
is  especially  vituperative.  He  had  the  fine,  declamatory  tal 
ent  which  is  often  possessed  by  men  of  ardent  feelings  and 
limited  understandings  ;  and  he  used  that  talent  in  denouncing 
his  opponents. 

In  this  chapter,  I  propose  to  extract  such  passages  of  the 
letters  written  by  leading  politicians  during  the  sixty  days 
of  the  Tie  excitement,  which  throw  light  upon  the  character 
and  history  of  Aaron  Burr,  or  upon  the  complicated  events  in 
which  he  now  played  a  passive  but  conspicuous  part,  or  upon 
the  state  of  things  in  the  country  at  this  great  crisis  of  the 
contention  between  tne  Old  and  the  New.  By  thus  bringing 
to  a  focus  many  scattered  rays,  the  TRUTH,  so  long  obscured, 
will,  I  trust,  become  visible  to  all  but  unwilling  eyes.  The 
extracts  shall  be  arranged  in  the  order  of  their  dates.  It 
may  be  as  well  to  mention  that,  during  the  greater  part  of 
these  sixty  days,  Hamilton  was  in  New  York,  Jefferson  at 
Washington,  and  Burr  at  Albany.  Colonel  Burr,  it  may  be 
remembered,  was  a  member  of  the  State  legislature.  So  far 


264  LIFE     OF     AARON     BUEB. 

from  being  "  shrouded  in  mystery"  at  Albany,  as  two  historian* 
have  it,  he  was  there  for  the  simple  purpose  of  performing  his 
duty  in  the  Assembly,  of  which  body  he  was  always  a  busy 
member. 

Another  fact  should  he  borne  in  mind.  Up  to  this  time,  and 
for  years  after,  Hamilton  and  Burr  were,  to  all  appearance, 
excellent  friends.  They  consulted  together  on  points  of  law. 
They  met  at  the  houses  of  common  friends.  Hamilton  dined 
at  Burr's  table  occasionally,  and  Burr  at  Hamilton's.  The 
lovely  Theodosia  visited  Mrs.  Hamilton  and  her  daughters. 
Many  gentlemen  who  knew  both  Hamilton  and  Burr,  and 
knew  them,  as  they  supposed,  intimately,  had  no  knowledge 
of  Hamilton's  embittered  feelings  against  Burr.  Burr  him 
self  had  not.  With  all  his  acuteness  and  dexterity  he  was 
remarkably  confiding ;  and  though  he  was  aware  of  Hamil 
ton's  intense  partisan  feelings,  he  did  not,  at  this  time,  know 
the  manner  in  which  his  rival  was  accustomed  to  write  and 
speak  of  him.  Far  indeed  was  he  from  supposing  Hamilton 
capable  of  using  against  him  the  careless  words  that  fell  from 
his  lips  at  his  own  hospitable  table !  But  to  proceed. 

October  10ZA,  1800.  First  I  will  copy  entire  a  letter*  writ 
ten  by  Burr  to  General  Wilkinson,  after  the  democratic  vic 
tory  was  known,  but  before  the  tie  had  been  announced.  It 
may  serve  as  a  specimen  of  his  cautious  manner  of  writing  to 
confidential  friends.  It  was  written  at  Ballston,  in  the  State 
of  New  York : 

"That  through  Biddle,  and  the  other  of  the  29th,  came  safe 
to  me  at  Albany  yesterday,  P.M.,  just  as  I  was  mounting  my 
horse  to  ride  hither  for  my  daughter,  who  has  been  passing  a 
few  days  with  a  friend  in  this  neighborhood,  while  I  was  at 
tending  on  public  duties  at  Albany.  Having  made  electors, 
and  a  Senator,  all  democratic,  the  legislature  adjourned,  to 
meet  on  the  last  Tuesday  in  January,  when  I  shall  be  again  in 
Albany.  To-morrow  I  move  toward  New  York ;  and  shall 
remain  there  for  at  least  two  months.  From  all  this  you  wiL 
*  This  letter  is  from  the  Appendix  to  the  second  volume  of  Wilkinson'* 


THE     TIE     INTBIGUES.  265 

enow  how  to  address  me  ;  and  as  to  the  mode  of  conveyance, 
I  take  the  mail  to  be  the  most  secure.  Our  post-offices  in 
New  York  and  in  Albany  are  perfectly  safe.  If  yours  in 
Washington,  or  where  else  you  may  be,  should  be  safe,  you  may 
write  fully.  My  curiosity  as  to  S.,  is  indeed  gratified,  even  to 
satiety.  I  wish  her  well,  and  something  more.  I  regret  the 
hook  for  the  injury  it  will  do  (has  done)  to  the  reputation  of 
one  honest  man,  and  the  feelings  of  another.  John's  pride 
will  be  much  wounded.  In  Jersey,  I  suspect,  Adams  will  not 
have  a  vote.  Among  the  electors  I  see  some  of  his  known 
political  enemies,  not  Democrats,  but  high-going  Feds.  Vir 
ginia  is  pledged  as  far  forth  as  faith  and  honor  can  bind  men. 
You  must  be  deceived  as  to  S.  C.  When  I  receive  your 
cypher  and  your  address,  you  shall  hear  from  me.  Till  then, 

"Adieu.  A.  BURR." 

**  Noah  Webster,  the  printer,  has,  I  am  told,  published  a 
letter  against  A.  II.  I  have  not  seen  it." 

December  15th,  1800.  —  Jefferson,  who  had  been  for  four  or 
five  years,  a  correspondent  of  Burr's,  writes  him  to-day  a  con 
gratulatory  letter  upon  the  happy  result  of  the  election.  The 
exact  result  was  not  yet  known ;  but  there  was  no  doubt 
the  Republicans  had  triumphed.  The  tie  was  dimly  fore 
shadowed.  After  some  preliminary  observations  of  no  import 
ance  now,  Mr.  Jefferson  proceeds  thus  : 

"  It  was  badly  managed  not  to  have  arranged  with  certainty 
what  seems  to  have  been  left  to  hazard.  It  was  the  more  ma 
terial,  because  I  understand  several  high-flying  Federalists 
have  expressed  their  hope  that  the  two  Republican  tickets 
may  be  equal,  and  their  determination  in  that  case  to  prevent 
a  choice  in  the  House  of  Representatives  (which  they  are 
strong  enough  to  do),  and  let  the  government  devolve  on  a 
President  of  the  Senate.  Decency  required  that  I  should  be 
ao  entirely  passive  during  the  late  contest,  that  I  never  once 
asked  whether  arrangements  had  been  made  to  prevent  so 
many  from  dropping  votes  intentionally  as  might  frustrate 
half  the  Republican  wish;  nor  did  I  do  ibt,  till  lately,  that 
luch  had  been  made 

12 


266  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BURR. 

"  While  I  must  congratulate  you,  my  dear  sir,  on  the  issue 
of  this  contest,  because  it  is  more  honorable,  and,  doubtless, 
more  grateful  to  you  than  any  station  within  the  competence 
of  the  chief  magistrate  ;  yet,  for  myself,  and  for  the  substan 
tial  service  of  the  public,  I  feel  most  sensibly  the  loss  we  sus 
tain  of  your  aid  in  our  new  administration.  It  leaves  a  chasm 
in  my  arrangements  which  can  not  be  adequately  filled  up.  I 
had  endeavored  to  compose  an  administration  whose  talents, 
integrity,  names,  and  dispositions  should  at  once  inspire  un 
bounded  confidence  in  the  public  mind,  and  insure  a  perfect 
harmony  in  the  conduct  of  the  public  business.  I  lose  you 
from  the  list,  and  am  not  sure  of  all  the  others.  Should  the 
gentlemen  who  possess  the  public  confidence  decline  taking  a 
part  in  their  affairs,  and  force  us  to  take  persons  unknown  to 
the  people,  the  evil  genius  of  this  country  may  realize  his 
avowal  that  '  he  will  beat  down  the  administration.'  The  re 
turn  of  Mr.  Van  Benthuysen,  one  of  your  electors,  furnishes 
me  a  confidential  opportunity  of  writing  this  much  to  you, 
which  I  should  not  have  ventured  through  the  post-office  at 
this  prying  season.  We  shall,  of  course,  see  you  before  the 
4th  of  March." 

The  "  evil  genius  of  this  country,"  according  to  Mr.  Jeffer 
son,  was  Alexander  Hamilton,  and,  doubtless,  he  was  the  indi 
vidual  referred  to  in  this  epistle.  At  a  later  and  calmer  day, 
Jefferson  was  juster  to  Hamilton. 

December  IQth.  —  One  day  after  the  above  was  written,  and 
three  or  four  days  before  it  could  have  reached  its  destina 
tion,  Colonel  Burr  wrote  a  letter  to  Mr.  S.  Smith,  a  membei 
Df  the  House  of  Representatives  from  Maryland,  the  materia 
part  of  which  was  the  following : 

"  It  is  highly  probable  that  I  shall  have  an  equal  number  of 
votes  with  Mr.  Jefferson ;  but,  if  such  should  be  the  result, 
jvery  man  who  knows  me  ought  to  know  that  I  would  utterly 
disclaim  all  competition.  Be  assured  that  the  Federal  party 
ean  entertain  no  wish  for  such  an  exchange.  As  to  my  friends 
they  would  dishonor  my  views  and  insult  my  feelmgs  by  a  sus 
picion  that  I  would  submit  to  be  instrumental  in  counteracting 


THE     TIE     INTRIGUES.  267 

the  wishes  and  the  expectations  of  the  United  States.  And  I 
now  constitute  you  my  proxy  to  declare  these  sentiments  if 
the  occasion  should  require." 

As  this  letter  came,  afterward,  to  be  thought  insincere,  it  18 
proper  to  mention  that,  at  the  time,  it  was  highly  applauded 
by  the  Republicans.  At  public  dinners  and  other  meetings,  it 
was  quoted  as  a  proof  of  Burr's  respect  for  the  will  of  the  peo 
ple.  He  also  received  addresses  and  letters,  applauding  it. 

December  IQth. —  Hamilton,  too,  writes  a  letter  to-day. 
Wolcott,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  under  Washington  and 
Adams,  and  a  '  high-flying  Federalist,'  was  the  individual  ad 
dressed.  This  letter  contains  a  passage  relative  to  Burr  and 
the  tie,  that  breathes  the  very  spirit  of  meanness.  After  stat 
ing,  among  other  things,  that  Burr  was  "  bankrupt  beyond 
redemption,  except  by  the  plunder  of  his  country,"  which  waa 
at  least  an  exaggeration,  he  opposes  the  Federal  project  of  sup 
porting  Burr,  and  adds  the  following  despicable  words  : 

"  Yet  it  may  be  well  enough  to  throw  out  a  lure  for  him,  in 
order  to  tempt  him  to  start  for  the  plate,  and  then  lay  the  foun 
dation  of  disunion  between  the  two  chiefs." 

December  l^th.  —  But,  among  the  Federalists,  there  had 
sprung  up  a  perfect  furore  for  electing  Burr  over  Jefferson  — 
BO  abhorrent  to  them  was  the  prospect  of  seeing  the  arch- 
Democrat  in  the  presidential  chair.  To-day,  Mr.  Otis,  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  writes  to  Hamilton,  the  "father-confessor"  of  the 
Federal  party,  to  ask  his  opinion  how  the  Federalists  could 
best  improve  the  accident  of  the  tie.  "  It  is  palpable,"  wrote 
Mr.  Otis,  "  that  to  elect  Burr  would  be  to  cover  the  opposi 
tion  with  chagrin,  and  to  sow  among  them  the  seeds  of  a  mor 
bid  division."  Shall  we,  he  continues,  open  negotiations  with 
Burr  ?  If  yes,  how  ?  Will  he  stand  to  his  engagements  ? 
We  in  Massachusetts  do  oot  know  the  man.  You  do.  Ad 
vise  us. 

December  Vlih.  —  On  the  same  day,  Hamilton  writes  a  sec- 
Mid  letter  to  Wolcott,  rebuking  vehemently  the  proposal  to 


268  LIFE     OP     AAEON     BUEE. 

elect  Burr  President  by  Federal  votes.  If  the  Federal  party 
he  says,  succeeds  in  electing  Burr,  "  it  will  have  done  nothing 
more  nor  less  than  place  in  that  station  a  man  who  will  possess 
the  boldness  and  daring  necessary  to  give  success  to  the  Ja 
cobin  system,  instead  of  one  who,  for  want  of  that  quality,  will 
be  less  fitted  to  promote  it. 

"  Let  it  not  be  imagined  that  Mr.  Burr  can  be  won  to  the 
Federal  views.  It  is  a  vain  hope.  Stronger  ties  and  stronger 
inducements  than  they  can  offer,  will  impel  him  in  a  different 
direction.  His  ambition  will  not  be  content  with  those  ob 
jects  which  virtuous  men  of  either  party  will  allot  to  it,  and 
his  situation  and  his  habits  will  oblige  him  to  have  recourse  to 
corrupt  expedients,  from  which  he  will  be  restrained  by  no 
moral  scruple.  To  accomplish  his  end,  he  must  lean  upon 
unprincipled  men,  and  will  continue  to  adhere  to  the  myrmi 
dons  who  have  hitherto  surrounded  him.  To  those  he  will,  no 
doubt,  add  able  rogues  of  the  Federal  party,  but  he  will  em 
ploy  the  rogues  of  all  parties  to  overrule  the  good  men  of  all 
parties,  and  to  prosecute  projects  which  wise  men  of  every  de 
scription  will  disapprove. 

"  These  things  are  to  be  inferred,  with  moral  certainty, 
from  the  character  of  the  man.  Every  step  in  his  career 
proves  that  he  has  formed  himself  upon  the  model  of  Catiline^ 
and  that  he  is  too  cold-blooded,  and  too  determined  a  conspir 
ator  ever  to  change  his  plan. 

"  What  would  you  think  of  these  toasts  and  this  conversa 
tion  at  his  table  within  the  last  three  or  four  weeks  ?  1st.  The 
French  Republic ;  2d.  The  Commissioners  on  both  sides  who 
instigated  the  Convention  (between  France  and  the  United 
States)  ;  3d.  Bonaparte ;  4th.  La  Fayette. 

"  What  would  you  think  of  his  having  seconded  the  posi 
tions  that  it  was  the  interest  of  this  country  to  allow  the  belli 
gerent  powers  to  bring  in  and  sell  their  prizes,  and  build  and 
equip  ships  in  our  ports  ?  Can  it  be  doubted  that  a  man  who 
-.as,  all  his  life,  speculated  upon  the  popular  prejudices,  wil) 
consult  them  in  the  object  of  a  war,  when  he  thinks  it  is  expe 
dieto  to  make  one  ?  Can  a  man  who,  despising  democracy 
nas»  himed  in  with  all  its  absurdities,  be  diverted  from  tht 


THE     TIE     INTRIGUES.  269 

plan  of  ambition  which  must  have  directed  his  coarse  ?  They 
who  suppose  it  must  understand  little  of  human  nature.  *  *  * 
Alas !  when  will  men  consult  their  reason  rather  than  their 
passions  ?  Whatever  they  may  imagine,  the  desire  of  morti 
fying  the  adverse  party  must  be  the  chief  spring  of  the  dispo 
sition  to  prefer  Mr.  Burr.  *  *  *  Adieu  to  the  Federal 
Troy  if  they  once  introduce  this  Grecian  horse  into  their  cit 
adel  !" 

Hamilton's  horror  of  Burr's  innocent  and  characteristic 
toasts  (which,  in  another  letter,  he  says  he  himself  heard  Burr" 
give  at  Burr's  own  table),  strikes  the  modern  reader  with  sur 
prise.  The  toasts  were  simply  those  of  the  ultra  Democrats. 
They  were  strictly  party  toasts.  Bonaparte  had,  indeed, 
usurped  the  government,  but  the  French  Republic  still  lived 
in  name,  and  the  American  Republicans  could  toast  the  First 
Consul  as  "  the  armed  soldier  of  democracy,"  and  the  great 
enemy  of  their  great  enemy,  England.  Burr,  as  a  military 
man,  could  not  but  admire  the  greatest  of  soldiers.  That 
Hamilton  should  have  held  up  as  monstrous  such  toasts  as 
these,  shows  something  of  the  humor  and  the  caliber  of  the 
man,  and  of  his  party.  It  shows  that,  at  that  day,  the  ultra 
Federalists  looked  upon  democratic  opinions,  as  common-place 
clergymen  regard  heretical  opinions,  not  merely  as  an  errone 
ous  way  of  thinking,  but  as  a  flagrant  moral  offense.  A 
significance  was  then  attached  to  toasts  of  which,  in  these 
unconvivial  times,  we  can  form  little  idea.  Toasts  were 
among  the  missive  weapons  of  party  warfare.  By  toasts, 
the  sentiments  of  party  were  expressed,  and  the  measures  of 
party  foreshadowed. 

December  19th.  —  Jafferson  writes  to  his  friend  Madison,  an 
nouncing  and  deploring  the  tie  ;  which,  he  says,  "has  produced 
great  dismay  and  gloom  on  the  Republican  gentlemen  here 
^Washington),  and  exultation  in  the  Federalists,  who  openly 
declare  they  will  prevent  an  election,  and  will  name  a  Presi 
dent  of  the  Senate  pro  tern,  by  what,  they  say,  would  only  be 
i  stretch  of  the  Constitution." 


?70  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BUEB. 

December  l$th.  —  To-day  was  written  the  only  honest,  and, 
therefore,  the  only  sensible  letter,  which  was  written  by  a 
Federalist  during  the  Tie  controversy.  The  writer  was 
GOUVENEUR  MORRIS,  a  name  ever  to  be  held  in  respect  from 
his  having  penned  this  epistle.  The  letter  appears  to  have 
been  written  at  Washington  or  Philadelphia.  After  mention 
ing  the  tie,  and  saying  that  there  was  a  likelihood  of  the 
Federalists  taking  up  Burr,  but  that  some  proposed  prevent 
ing  an  election  altogether,  and  putting  the  government  upon 
a  President  of  the  Senate,  Mr.  Morris  proceeded  thus : 

"  Not  meaning  to  enter  into  intrigues,  I  have  merely  ex 
pressed  the  opinion,  that,  SINCE  IT  WAS  EVIDENTLY  THE  INTEN 
TION  OF  OUR  FELLOW-CITIZENS  TO  MAKE  MR.  JEFFERSON  THEIR 

PRESIDENT,  IT  SEEMS  PROPER  TO  FULFIL  THAT  INTENTION. 

"  The  answer  is  simple,  and,  on  mere  reasoning,  conclusive, 
but  it  is  conclusive  only  to  unimpassioned  sentiment.  Let 
the  representatives  do  what  they  may,  they  will  not  want 
arguments  to  justify  them,  and  the  situation  of  our  country 
(doomed  perhaps  to  sustain,  unsupported,  a  war  against 
France*  or  England)  seems,  indeed,  to  call  for  a  vigorous, 
practical  man.  Mr.  Burr  will,  it  is  said,  come  hither,  and 
^ome  who  pretend  to  know  his  views  think  he  will  bargain 
with  the  Federalists.  Of  such  a  bargain  I  shall  know  noth- 
*ng,  and  have  declared  my  determination  to  support  the  con 
stitutionally  appointed  administration,  so  long  as  its  acts  shall 
not,  in  my  judgment,  be  essentially  wrong.  My  personal  line 
of  conduct  gives  me  no  difficulty,  but  I  am  not  without  se 
rious  apprehension  for  the  future  state  of  things. 

"  The  anti-Federal  party  is,  beyond  question,  the  most  nu 
merous  at  present,  and  should  they  be  disappointed  in  their 
expectations  as  to  the  President,  they  will  generally,  I  believe, 
oppose  the  government  with  embittered  rancor.  The  best 
Federalists  will,  I  appreher.vi,  support  but  feebly  a  man  whom 
(unjustly,  perhaps)  they  consider  as  void  of  principle ;  and  a 
government  whose  force  lies  in  public  opinion,  will,  under  such 
circumstances,  be  critically  situated." 

In  all  Hamilton's  correspondence  on  this  subject,  not  one 
can  be  found  to  the  only  right  reason  for  preferring 


HE    TIE    INTRIGUES  2l 

Jefferson,  which  is  so  well  stated  by  Gouveneur  Morris  in  the 
above  letter. 

December  22d.  —  Hamilton  writes  to  Theodore  Sedgwick  of 
Connecticut,  formerly  a  friend  and  correspondent  of  Burr's. 
To  Sedgwick  he  says,  that  "  the  appointment  of  Burr  as  Pres 
ident  will  disgrace  our  country  abroad.  No  agreement  with 
him  could  be  relied  upon."  And  more  to  the  same  effect. 

December  24th.  —  Hamilton  replies  -to  Morris,  briefly  repeat 
ing  his  denunciations  of  Burr. 

December  26th.  —  A  similar  letter  from  Hamilton  to  Morris, 
in  which  he  "  trusts  the  Federalists  will  not  be  so  mad  as  to 
vote  for  Burr."  "  If,"  he  adds,  "  there  be  a  man  in  the  world 
I  ought  to  hate,  it  is  Jefferson.  With  Burr  I  have  always 
been  personally  well.  But  the  public  good  must  be  paramount 
to  every  private  consideration." 


December  27tA.  —  Today,  Hamilton  writes  a  long  and  very 
earnest  letter  to  Mr.  Bayard  of  Delaware,  a  member  of  the 
House,  who  carried  the  vote  of  his  State  in  his  pocket.  He 
denounces  his  friend  Burr,  as  "  a  voluptuary  by  system,"  and 
adds  the  following  : 

"  No  engagement  that  can  be  made  with  him  can  be  de 
pended  upon  ;  while  making  it,  he  will  laugh  in  his  sleeve  at 
the  credulity  of  those  with  whom  he  makes  it  ;  and  the  first 
moment  it  suits  his  views  to  break  it,  he  will  do  so.  Let  me 
add,  that  I  could  scarcely  name  a  discreet  man  of  either  party 
in  our  State  who  does  not  think  Mr.  Burr  the  most  unfit  man 
in  the  United  States  for  the  office  of  President.  Disgrace 
abroad,  ruin  at  home,  are  the  probable  fruits  of  his  elevation. 
To  contribute  to  the  disappointment  and  mortification  of  Mr. 
Jefferson,  would  be,  on  my  part,  only  to  retaliate  for  unequiv 
ocal  proofs  of  enmity  ;  but  in  a  case  like  this,  it  would  be  base 
to  listen  to  personal  considerations." 

In  this  letter  Hamilton  repeats  the  toasts,  before  quoted, 
tfhich  he  had  heard  from  Burr's  lips,  when,  as  he  now  says 


272  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

"  I  dined  with  him  lately."  He  adds :  "  The  peculiarity  of 
the  occasion  will  excuse  my  mentioning,  in  confidence,  the 
occurrences  of  a  private  table." 

January  5th,  1801.  —  Gouveneur  Morris  replies  to  Hamilton 
In  the  course  of  his  letter,  he  says :  "  Some,  indeed  most,  of 
our  eastern  friends,  are  warm  in  support  of  Burr,  and  their 
pride  is  so  much  up  about  the  charge  of  influence  that  it  is 
dangerous  to  quote  an  opinion."  He  adds  that  the  excitement 
among  the  politicians  is  fearful,  and  his  own  position  of  calm 
spectator  difficult  to  support.  "  You  who  are  temperate  in 
drinking,"  he  observes,  "have  never,  perhaps,  noticed  the 
awkward  situation  of  a  man  who  continues  sober  after  the 
company  are  drunk." 

January  1th.  —  We  are  now  getting  into  the  interior  circles. 
To-day  Bayard,  who  held  the  power  to  decide  the  question  by 
his  single  vote,  replies  to  Hamilton  at  length,  and  with  great 
apparent  candor.  He  acknowledges  Hamilton's  letter,  and 
thanks  him  for  it ;  mentions  Burr's  letter  to  Mr.  Smith,  of 
Maryland,  declining  to  frustrate  the  people's  intention ;  and 
then  proceeds  thus : 

"  It  (Burr's  letter  to  Smith)  is  here  (Washington)  under 
stood  to  have  proceeded  either  from  a  false  calculation  as  to 
the  result  of  the  electoral  votes,  or  was  intended  as  a  cover  to 
blind   his  own  party.     By  persons  friendly  to  Mr.  Burr,  it  is 
distinctly  stated  that  he  is  willing  to  consider  the  Federalists 
as  his  friends,  and  to  accept  the  office  of  President  as  their 
gift.     I  take  it  for  granted  that  Mr.  Burr  would  not  only 
gladly  accept  the  office,  but  will  neglect  no  means   in  hi 
power  to  secure  it."     He  then  calculates  his  chances,  and 
adds: 

"  I  assure  you,  sir,  there  appears  to  be  a  strong  inclination 
in  a  majority  of  the  Federal  party  to  support  Mr.  Burr.  The 
current  has  already  acquired  considerable  force,  and  manifestly 
increasing.  The  vote  which  the  representation  of  a  State  en 
ables  me  to  give  would  decide  the  question  in  favor  of  Mr 
Jefferson.  At  present  I  am  by  no  means  decided  as  to  thi 


THE    TIE     INTRIGUES.  278 

Dbject  of  preference.  If  the  Federal  party  should  take  up  Mr. 
Burr,  I  ought  certainly  to  be  impressed  with  the  most  un« 
doubting  conviction  before  I  separated  myself  from  them. 
With  respect  to  the  personal  quality  of  the  competitors,  I 
should  fear  as  much  from  the  sincerity  of  Mr.  Jefferson  (if  he 
is  sincere),  as  from  the  want  of  probity  in  Mr.  Burr.  There 
would  be  really  cause  to  fear  that  the  government  would  not 
survive  the  course  of  moral  and  political  experiments  to  which 
it  would  be  subjected  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  But 
there  is  another  view  of  the  subject  which  gives  me  inclination 
m  favor  of  Burr.  I  consider  the  State  ambition  of  Virginia 
as  the  source  of  present  party.  The  faction  who  govern  that 
State  aim  to  govern  the  United  States.  Virginia  will  never 
be  satisfied  but  when  this  state  of  things  exists.  If  Burr  should 
be  the  President,  they  will  not  govern,  and  his  acceptance  of 
the  office,  which  would  disappoint  their  views,  which  depend 
upon  Jefferson,  would,  I  apprehend,  immediately  create  a  schism 
in  the  party,  which  would  soon  rise  into  open  opposition. 

"I  can  not  deny,  however,  that  there  are  strong  consid 
erations  which  give  a  preference  to  Mr.  Jefferson.  The  sub 
ject  admits  of  many  doubtful  views,  and  before  I  resolve  or. 
the  part  I  shall  take,  I  shall  wait  the  approach  of  the  crisis, 
which  may  probably  bring  with  it  circumstances  decisive  of 
the  event.  The  Federal  party  meets  on  Friday,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  forming  a  resolution  as  to  their  line  of  conduct.  ] 
have  not  the  least  doubt  as  to  their  agreeing  to  support  Burr. 
Their  determination  will  not  bind  me,  for  though  it  might  cost 
me  a  painful  struggle  to  disappoint  the  views  and  wishes  of 
many  gentlemen  with  whom  I  have  been  accustomed  to  act, 
yet  the  magnitude  of  the  subject  forbids  the  sacrifice  of  a 
strong  conviction. 

"  I  can  not  answer  for  the  coherence  of  my  letter,  as  I  have 
undertaken  to  write  to  you  from  the  Chamber  of  Representa 
tives,  with  an  attention  divided  by  the  debate  which  occupies 
the  House. 

"  I  have  not  considered  myseif  at  liberty  to  show  your  let- 
ter  to  any  one,  though  I  think  it  would  be  serviceable  if  you 
could  trust  my  discretion  in  the  communication  of  it." 

32* 


274  LIFE     OP     AARON     BUKK. 

January  9th.  —  General  Gunn,  a  leading  Federalist  of  Geor 
gia,  acknowledges  to-day  a  letter  from  Hamilton  on  the  en. 
grossing  topic,  and  adds  some  interesting  statements.  He 
writes  from  Washington : 

"On  the  subject  of  choosing  a  President,  some  revolution- 
ary  opinions  are  gaining  ground,  and  the  Jacobins  are  deter 
mined  to  resist  the  election  of  Burr  at  every  hazard — most 
of  the  Jacobin  members  will  be  instructed  not  to  vote  for 
Colonel  Burr.  I  have  seen  a  letter  from  Mr.  Madison  to  one 
of  the  Virginia  representatives,  in  which  he  says,  that,  in  the 
event  of  the  present  House  of  Representatives  not  choosing 
Mr.  Jefferson  President,  that  the  next  House  of  Representa 
tives  will  have  a  right  to  choose  one  of  the  two  having  the 
highest  number  of  votes,  and  that  the  nature  of  the  case, 
aided  with  the  support  of  the  great  body  of  the  people,  will 
justify  Jefferson  and  Burr  jointly  to  call  together  the  mem 
bers  of  the  next  House  of  Representatives,  previous  to  the 
3d  of  December  next,  for  the  express  purpose  of  choosing  a 
President,  and  that  he  is  confident  they  will  make  a  proper 
choice."  In  other  parts  of  his  letter,  he  speaks  of  America  be 
ing  degraded  by  the  attempt  to  elect  Burr  President.  "  What 
say  you,  my  friend  ?  the  little  Virginian  must  have  been  a  lit 
tle  ferocious  at  the  time  he  wrote  to  his  friend.  I  am  confi 
dent  the  present  House  will  not  elect  Colonel  Burr,  and  am 
persuaded  the  Democrats  have  taken  their  ground  with  a 
fixed  resolution  to  destroy  the  government  rather  than  yield 
their  point.  I  fear  some  of  our  friends  have  committed  them 
selves  by  writing  improperly  to  Burr.  We  know  the  man 
and  those  who  put  themselves  in  his  power  will  repent  their 
folly." 

January  IQth.  —  Governor  John  Rutledge  of  South  Carolina, 
replies  to  a  letter  from  Hamilton,  in  a  way  to  enhance  poster 
ity's  contempt  for  the  Federal  party  of  1800. 

"  My  determination,"  he  says,  "  to  support  Mr.  Burr  ha* 
oeen  shaken  by  your  communication,  and  I  shall  make,  among 
those  who  with  you  are  anxious  to  preserve  public  order  a* 
this  crisis,  all  the  use  of  it  that  its  seasonableness  and  value 


THE    TIE    INTRIGUES.  27t 

wrill  enable  me  to  do.  Viewing  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Burr 
leparately,  each  appears  improper  for  the  presidency  ;  but 
looking  on  them  together,  and  comparatively,  the  Federalists 
think  their  preferring  Burr  will  be  the  least  mischief  they  can 
do.  His  promotion  will  be  prodigiously  afflicting  to  the  Vir 
ginia  faction,  and  must  disjoint  the  party.  If  Mr.  B.'s  presi 
dency  be  productive  of  evils,  it  will  be  very  easy  for  us  to  ex 
cite  jealousy  respecting  his  motives,  and  to  get  rid  of  him. 
Opposed  by  the  Virginia  party,  it  will  be  his  interest  to  con 
ciliate  the  Federalists ;  and  we  are  assured  by  a  gentleman 
who  lately  had  some  conversation  with  Mr.  B.  on  this  subject, 
that  he  is  disposed  to  maintain  and  expand  our  systems. 
Should  he  attempt  a  usurpation,  he  will  endeavor  to  accom 
plish  his  ends  in  a  bold  manner,  and  by  the  union  of  daring 
spirits  —  his  project  in  such  a  shape  can  not  be  very  formidable, 
and  those  employed  in  the  execution  of  it  can  very  easily  be 
made  way  with.  Should  Mr.  Jefferson  be  disposed  to  make 
(as  he  would  term  it)  an  improvement  (and  as  we  should 
deem  it,  a  subversion)  of  our  Constitution,  the  attempt  would 
be  fatal  to  us,  for  he  would  begin  by  democratizing  the  people, 
and  end  by  throwing  every  thing  into  their  hands." 

January  IQth. — Theodore  Sedgwick  replies  to  Hamilton's 
letter  of  December  22.  The  wrong-headedness  of  the  Federal 
leaders  is  conspicuously  shown  in  this  epistle.  Mr.  Sedgwick 
begins  by  saying  that  all  the  Democrats  are  for  Jefferson,  and 
most  of  the  Federalists  for  Burr.  He  then  admits,  that  the 
people's  intention  was,  that  Jefferson  should  be  President 
But  why  did  the  people  prefer  Jefferson  ? 

"  Because,"  says  Mr.  Sedgwick,  "  he  was  known  to  be  hos 
tile  to  all  those  great  systems  of  administration,  the  combined 
effect  of  which  is  our  national  prosperity,  and  all  we  possess 
of  national  character  and  respectability  ;  because  he  is  a  sin 
cere  and  enthusiastic  Democrat  in  principle,  plausible  in  man 
ner,  crafty  in  conduct,  persevering  in  the  pursuit  of  his  object^ 
regardless  of  the  means  by  which  it  is  attained,  and  equally 
"egardless  of  an  adherence  to  truth,  as  demonstrated  by  hii 


276  LIFE     OP    AARON     BURR. 

letter  to  Mazzei,*  his  declaration  in  the  Senate,  on  his  first 
taking  his  seat  there,  etc.,  etc. ;  because  he  is  known  to  be  de 
voted  to  the  views  of  those  men  in  his  State,  whose  unceasing 
effort  it  has  been,  and  is,  to  reduce  in  practice  the  adminis 
tration  of  their  government  to  the  principles  of  the  old  con 
federation,  in  which  that  State,  by  her  numerous  representa 
tives,  and  the  influence  which  she  has  on  surrounding  States, 
will  be  the  dictator  ;  because  he  is  known  to  be  servilely  de- 
roted  to  one  foreign  nation,  under  any  form  of  government,  and 
eursuing  any  system  of  measures,  however  hostile  to  this 
jountry,  and  unrelentingly  hostile  to  another  nation ;  and 
ihose  the  two  nations  with  which  we  have  the  most  interest- 
eng  relations,  and  with  which  it  is  most  important  to  preserve 
tn  equal  and  impartial  regard.  Ought  we,  then,  to  respect 
.tie  preference  which  is  given  to  this  man  from  such  motives, 
«kid  by  such  friends  f 

"  Aa  to  the  other  candidate,  there  is  no  disagreement  as  to  his 
:liaiacter.  He  is  ambitious,  selfish,  profligate.  His  ambition  is 

*  Mazzei  w*»a  a  learned  Italian,  who  had  resided  in  Virginia,  near  Monti- 

>llo,  whero  he  became  intimate  with  Jefferson.     Upon  his  return  to  Europe 

\  wrote  to  Jefferson.     Jefferson's  reply,  by  some  means,  got  into  the  news- 

i  apers,  and  made  a  prodigious  clamor.     Of  this  letter,  dated  April  24,  1795, 

Iho  following  is  the  part  relating  to  public  events : 

"  The  aspect  of  our  politics  has  wonderfully  changed  since  you  left  us.  In 
place  of  that  noble  love  of  liberty  and  republican  government,  which  car 
ried  us  triumphantly  through  the  war,  an  Anglican  monarchical  aristocratical 
party  has  sprung  up,  whose  avowed  object  is  to  draw  over  us  the  substance, 
as  they  have  already  done  the  forms,  of  the  British  government  The  main 
oody  of  our  citizens,  however,  remain  true  to  their  republican  principles;  the 
whole  lamped  interest  is  republican,  and  so  \A  a  great  mass  of  talents.  Against 
us  are  the  E-xecutive,  the  Judiciary,  two  out  of  three  branches  of  the  Legisla 
ture,  all  the  officers  of  the  government ;  all  who  want  to  be  officers,  all 
thnid  men,  who  prefer  the  calm  of  despotism  to  the  boisterous  sea  of  liberty. 
British  merchants,  and  Americans  trading  on  British  capital,  speculators  and 
Holders  hi  the  banks  and  public  funds,  a  contrivance  invented  for  the  purpose 
of  corruption,  and  for  assimilating  us  in  all  things  to  _  the  rotten  as  well  aa 
the  sound  part  of  the  British  model  It  would  give  you  a  fever  were  I  ta 
uame  to  you  the  apoakxtos  who  have  gone  over  to  these  heresies,  men  whc 
were  Samsons  hi  the  Se>)d  and  Solomons  in  the  council,  but  who  have  hai 
ttxeir  heads  shorn  by  tho  ^avlot  Englzsnd." 


THE     TIE     INTRIGUES.  271 

i>f  tie  worst  kind ;  it  is  a  mere  love  of  power,  regardless  of  fame, 
but  as  its  instrument ;  his  selfishness  excludes  all  social  affec 
tion,*  and  his  profligacy  unrestrained  by  any  moral  sentiments, 
and  defying  all  decency.  This  is  agreed,  but  then  it  is  known 
that  his  manners  are  plausible  —  that  he  is  dexterous  in  the  ac 
quisition  and  use  of  the  means  necessary  to  effect  his  wishes. 
Nothing  can  be  a  stronger  evidence  of  this  than  the  situation  in 
which  he  stands  at  this  moment  —  without  any  pretension  from 
connections,  fame,  or  services  —  elevated  by  his  own  indepen 
dent  means  to  the  highest  point  to  which  all  those  can  carry  the 
most  meritorious  man  in  the  nation.  He  holds  to  no  previous 
theories,  but  is  a  mere  matter-of-fact  man.  His  very  selfishness 
prevents  his  entertaining  any  mischievous  predilections  for  for 
eign  nations.  The  situation  in  which  he  lives  has  enabled  him  to 
discern,  and  justly  appreciate  the  benefits  resulting  from  our 
commercial  and  other  national  systems,  and  this  same  selfish 
ness  will  afford  some  security  that  he  will  not  only  patronize 
their  support,  but  their  invigoration. 

"  There  are  other  considerations.  It  is  very  evident  that  the 
Jacobins  dislike  Mr.  Burr  as  President  —  that  they  dread  his 
appointment  more  than  even  that  of  General  Pinckney. 

"  On  his  part,  he  hates  them  for  the  preference  given  to  his 
rival.  He  has  expressed  his  displeasure  at  the  publication  of 
his  letter  by  General  Smith.  This  jealousy,  and  distrust,  and 
dislike,  will  every  day  more  and  more  increase,  and  more  and 
more  widen  the  breach  between  them.  If  then  Burr  should 
be  elected  by  the  Federalists  against  the  hearty  opposition  of 
the  Jacobins,  the  wounds  mutually  given  and  received  will 
probably  be  incurable.  Each  will  have  committed  the  un 
pardonable  sin.  Burr  must  depend  on  good  men  for  his  sup 
port,  and  that  support  he  can  not  receive  but  by  a  conformity 
to  their  views. 

"  In  these  circumstances,  then,  to  what  evils  shall  we  expose 
ourselves  by  the  choice  of  Burr,  which  we  should  escape  by 
,he  election  of  J3fferson?  It  is  said  that  it  would  be  more 

*  The  reader  will  observe,  that  many  of  the  leading  Federalists,  in  denouno 
Big  Burr,  use  Hamilton's  own  phrases  —  so  familiar  had  Hamilton  made 
phrases  by  repetition 


278  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BURR. 

disgraceful  to  our  country,  and  to  the  principles  of  our  gov 
ernment.  For  myself,  I  declare  I  think  it  impossible  to  pre 
serve  the  honor  of  our  country  or  the  principles  of  our  Con. 
stitution,  by  a  mode  of  election  which  was  intended  to  secure 
to  prominent  talents  and  virtues  the  first  honors  of  our  coun- 
try,  and  for  ever  to  disgrace  the  barbarous  institutions  by 
which  executive  power  is  to  be  transmitted  through  the  orgam 
of  generation.  We  have  at  one  election  placed  at  the  head 
of  our  government  a  semi-maniac  (Adams),  and  who,  in  his 
Boberest  senses,  is  the  greatest  marplot  in  nature ;  and,  at  the 
next  a  feeble  and  false  enthusiastic  theorist  (Jefferson)  and 
a  profligate  (Burr)  without  character  and  without  property, 
bankrupt  in  both.  But  if  there  remains  any  thing  for  us,  in 
this  respect,  to  regard,  it  is  with  the  minority  in  the  presiden 
tial  election ;  and  can  they  be  more  disgraced  than  by  assent 
ing  to  the  election  of  Jefferson  —  the  man  who  has  proclaimed 
them  to  the  world  as  debased  in  principle,  and  as  detestable 
and  traitorous  in  conduct  ?  Burr  is  indeed  unworthy,  but  the 
evidence  of  his  unworthiness  is  neither  so  extensively  known 
nor  so  conclusive  as  that  of  the  other  man. 

"  It  must  be  confessed  that  there  is  part  of  the  character  of 
Burr  more  dangerous  than  that  of  Jefferson.  Give  to  the 
former  a  probable  chance,  and  he  would  become  a  usurper. 
The  latter  might  not  incline,  he  certainly  would  not  dare,  to 
make  the  attempt.  I  do  not  believe  that  either  would  suc 
ceed,  and  I  am  confident  that  such  a  project  would  be  rejected 
by  Burr  as  visionary. 

"  At  first,  I  confess,  I  was  strongly  disposed  to  give  Jeffer 
son  the  preference ;  but  the  more  I  have  reflected,  the  more  I 
have  inclined  to  the  other ;  yet,  however,  I  remain  unpledged, 
even  to  my  friends,  though  I  believe  I  shall  not  separate  from 
whem." 

January  IQth.  —  A  long  letter  from  Hamilton  to  Gouveneui 
Morris  about  the  ratification  of  the  convention  with  France 
concludes : 

"So  our  eastern  friends  want  to  join  the  armed  neutrality 
md  make  war  upon  Britain.  I  infer  this  from  their  mad  pro- 


THE     TIE     INTRIGUES.  279 

Density  to  make  J3urr  President.  If  Jefferson  has  prejudices 
leading  to  that  result,  he  has  defects  of  character  to  keep  him 
back.  Burr,  with  the  same  propensities,  will  find  the  thing 
necessary  to  his  projects,  and  will  dare  to  hazard  all  conse 
quences.  They  may  as  well  think  to  bend  a  giant  by  a  cob 
web,  as  his  ambition  by  promises." 

January  15th.  —  Burr's  own  letters  during  this  period  are 
quite  in  his  usual  manner,  light,  jocular,  and  brief.  An  allu 
sion  to  the  tie  occurs  in  a  note  to  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  Joseph 
Alston,  of  South  Carolina.  "  The  equality  of  Jefferson  and 
Burr  excites  great  speculation  and  much  anxiety.  I  believe 
that  all  will  be  well,  and  that  Jefferson  will  be  our  President." 
The  subject  is  not  mentioned  in  any  other  of  his  published 
letters. 

January  16th.  —  The  importance  of  Mr.  Bayard,  as  a  mem 
ber  of  the  House  holding  the  entire  vote  of  a  State,  induced 
Hamilton  to  try  all  his  power  to  bring  him  over  to  his  opinion. 
To  Bayard,  accordingly,  he  now  writes  the  most  carefully 
elaborated  letter  that  the  crisis  elicited.  It  is  the  most  com 
plete  expression  of  Hamilton's  feelings  as  a  patriot  and  as  a 
partizan,  that  has  come  down  to  us. 

"  I  was  glad  to  find,  my  dear  sir,  by  your  letter,"  he  began, 
"  that  you  had  not  yet  determined  to  go,  with  the  consent  of 
the  Federal  party,  in  support  of  Mr.  Burr ;  and  that  you  were 
resolved  to  hold  yourself  disengaged  till  the  moment  of  final 
decision.  Your  resolution  to  separate  yourself,  in  this  instance, 
from  the  Federal  party,  if  your  conviction  shall  be  strong  of 
the  unfitness  of  Mr.  Burr,  is  certainly  laudable.  So  much 
does  it  coincide  with  my  ideas,  that  if  the  party  shall,  by  sup 
porting  Mr.  Burr  as  President,  adopt  him  for  their  official 
chief,  I  shall  be  obliged  to  consider  myself  as  an  isolated  man. 
rt  will  be  impossible  for  me  to  reconcile  with  my  motives  of 
*onor  or  policy,  the  continuing  to  be  of  a  party  which,  ac 
cording  to  my  apprehension,  will  have  degraded  itself  and  the 
eountry. 

"  I  am  sure,  nevertheless,  that  the  motives  of  many  will  b« 


280  LIFE     OP     AAEON     BURR. 

good,  and  I  shall  never  cease  to  esteem  the  individuals,  though 
I  shall  deplore  a  step  which  I  fear  experience  will  show  to 
be  a  very  fatal  one.  Among  the  letters  which  I  receive, 
assigning  the  reasons,  pro  and  con.,  for  preferring  Burr  to  Jef 
ferson,  I  observe  no  small  exaggeration  to  the  prejudice  of  the 
latter,  and  some  things  taken  for  granted  as  to  the  former 
which  are  at  least  questionable.  Perhaps  myself  the  first,  at 
some  expense  of  popularity,  to  unfold  the  true  character  of 
Jefferson,  it  is  too  late  for  me  to  become  his  apologist.  Nor 
have  I  any  disposition  to  do  it. 

"  I  admit  that  his  politics  are  tinctured  with  fanaticism ;  that 
he  is  too  much  in  earnest  in  his  democracy ;  that  he  has  been 
a  mischievous  enemy  to  the  principal  measures  of  our  past 
administration ;  that  he  is  crafty  and  persevering  in  his  ob 
jects  ;  that  he  is  not  scrupulous  about  the  means  of  success, 
nor  very  mindful  of  truth,  and  that  he  is  a  contemptible  hyp 
ocrite.  But  it  is  not  true,  as  is  alleged,  that  he  is  an  enemy 
to  the  power  of  the  executive,  or  that  he  is  for  confounding 
all  the  powers  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  It  is  a  fact, 
which  I  have  frequently  mentioned,  that,  while  we  were  in  th« 
administration  together,  he  was  generally  for  a  large  construc 
tion  of  the  executive  authority,  and  not  backward  to  act  upon 
it  in  cases  which  coincided  with  his  views.  Let  it  be  added 
that,  in  his  theoretic  ideas,  he  has  considered  as  improper  the 
participations  of  the  Senate  in  the  executive  authority.  I  have 
more  than  once  made  the  reflection  that,  viewing  himself  as 
the  reversioner,  he  was  solicitous  to  come  into  the  possession 
of  a  good  estate.  Nor  is  it  true,  that  Jefferson  is  zealous 
enough  to  do  any  thing  in  pursuance  of  his  principles,  which 
will  contravene  his  popularity  or  his  interest.  He  is  as  likely 
as  any  man  I  know  to  temporize ;  to  calculate  what  will  be 
likely  to  promote  his  own  reputation  and  advantage,  and  the 
probable  result  of  such  a  temper  is  the  preservation  of  systems, 
though  originally  opposed,  which  being  once  established,  could 
fiot  be  overturned  without  danger  to  the  person  who  did  it. 
To  my  mind,  a  true  estimate  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  character  war 
rants  the  expectation  of  a  temporizing,  rather  than  a  violent 
jystem.  That  Jefferson  has  manifested  a  culpable  predilection 


THE    TIE     INTRIGUES.  281 

or  France  is  certainly  true ;  but  I  think  it  a  question  whether 
it  did  not  proceed  quite  as  much  from  her  popularity  among 
as  as  from  sentiment ;  and  in  proportion  as  that  popularity  is 
diminished,  his  zeal  will  cool.  Add  to  this  that  there  ia  no 
fair  reason  to  suppose  him  capable  of  being  corrupted,  which 
is  a  security  that  he  will  not  go  beyond  certain  limits.  It  is 
not  at  all  improbable  that,  under  the  change  of  circumstances, 
Jefferson's  Gallicism  has  considerably  abated. 

"  As  to  Burr,  these  things  are  admitted,  and  indeed  can 
uot  be  denied,  that  he  is  a  man  of  extreme  and  irregular  am- 
bition  ;  that  he  is  selfish  to  a  degree  which  excludes  all  social 
affections  ;  and  that  he  is  decidedly  profligate.  But  it  is  said, 
1st,  that  he  is  artful  and  dexterous  to  accomplish  his  ends; 
2d,  that  he  holds  no  pernicious  theories,  but  is  a  mere  matter 
of  fact  man ;  3d,  that  his  very  selfishness  is  a  guard  against 
mischievous  foreign  predilection ;  4th,  that  his  local  situation 
has  enabled  him  to  appreciate  the  utility  of  our  commercial 
and  fiscal  systems,  and  the  same  qualities  of  selfishness  will 
lead  him  to  support  and  invigorate  them ;  5th,  that  he  is  now 
disliked  by  the  Jacobins  ;  that  his  elevation  will  be  a  mortal 
utab  to  them,  breed  an  invincible  hatred  to  him,  and  compel 
him  to  lean  on  the  Federalists ;  6th,  Burr's  ambition  will  be 
checked  by  his  good  sense,  by  the  manifest  impossibility  of 
succeeding  in  any  scheme  of  usurpation,  and  that,  if  attempted, 
there  is  nothing  to  fear  from  the  attempt. 

"  These  topics  are,  in  my  judgment,  more  plausible  than 
solid.  As  to  the  first  point,  the  fact  must  be  admitted ;  but 
those  qualities  are  objections  rather  than  recommendations, 
when  they  are  under  the  direction  of  bad  principles.  As  to  the 

econd  point,  too  much  is  taken  for  granted.  If  Burr's  con 
versation  is  to  be  credited,  he  is  not  very  far  from  being  a 
visionary.  He  has  quoted  to  me  Connecticut*  as  an  example 
of  the  success  of  the  democratic  theory,  and  as  authority 
serious  doubts  whether  it  was  not  a  good  one.  It  is  ascer 
tamed  that  in  some  instances  he  has  talked  perfect  Godwinism. 
I  have  myself  heard  him  speak  with  applause  of  the  French 

*  The  colonial  government  of  Connecticut  was  caore  democratic  thac  thai 
tf  the  other  colonies. 


282  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURB. 

system,  as  unshackling  the  mind,  and  leaving  it  to  its  natural 
energies ;  and  I  have  been  present  when  he  tas  contended 
against  banking  systems  with  earnestness,  and  with  the  same 
arguments  that  Jefferson  would  use.  (Note  by  Hamilton. 
"  Yet  he  has  lately,  by  a  trick,  established  a  bank,  a  perfect 
monster  in  its  principles,  but  a  very  convenient  instrument  of 
profit  and  influence.") 

"  The  truth  is,  that  Burr  is  a  man  of  a  very  subtle  imagin 
ation,  and  a  mind  of  this  make  is  rarely  free  frcm  ingenious 
whimsies.  Yet  I  admit  that  he  has  no  fixed  theory,  and  that 
his  peculiar  notions  will  easily  give  way  to  his  interest.  But 
is  it  a  recommendation  to  have  no  theory  f  Can  that  man  be 
a  systematic  or  able  statesman  who  has  none  ?  I  believe  not. 
No  general  principles  will  hardly  work  much  better  than 
erroneous  ones. 

"  As  to  the  third  point,  it  is  certain  that  Burr,  generally 
speaking,  has  been  as  warm  a  partizan  of  France  as  Jefferson , 
that  he  has,  in  some  instances,  shown  himself  to  be  so  with 
passion.  But  if  it  was  from  calculation,  who  will  say  that  his 
calculations  will  not  continue  him  so  ?  His  selfishness,  so  far 
from  being  an  obstacle,  may  be  a  prompter.  If  corrupt,  as 
well  as  selfish,  he  may  be  a  partisan  for  the  sake  of  aid  to  hig 
views.  No  man  has  trafficked  more  than  he  in  the  floating 
passions  of  the  multitude.  Hatred  to  Great  Britain  and  at 
tachment  to  France  in  the  public  mind  will  naturally  lead  a 
man  of  his  selfishness,  attached  to  place  and  power,  to  favor 
France  and  oppose  Great  Britain.  The  Gallicism  of  many  of 
our  patriots  is  to  be  thus  resolved,  and,  in  my  opinion,  it  is 
morally  certain  that  Burr  will  continue  to  be  influenced  by 
this  calculation. 

"  As  to  the  fourth  point,  the  instance  I  have  cited  with 
respect  to  banks,  proves  that  the  argument  is  not  to  be  relied 
upon.  If  there  was  much  in  it,  why  does  Chancellor  Living- 
iton  maintain  that  we  ought  not  to  cultivate  navigation,  but 
ought  to  let  foreigners  be  our  carriers?  France  is  of  this 
opinion  too  ;  and  Burr,  for  some  reason  or  other,  will  be  very 
»pt  to  be  of  the  opinion  of  France. 

"  As  to  the  fifth  point,  nothing  can  be  more  fallacious.     It 


THE     TIE     INTRIGUES.  283 

.R  demonstrated  by  recent  facts  that  Burr  is  solicitous  to  keep 
upon  anti-Federal  ground  to  avoid  compromitting  himself  by 
any  engagement  with  the  Federalists.  With  or  without  such 
engagement,  he  will  easily  persuade  his  former  friends  that  he 
does  not  stand  on  that  ground ;  and  after  their  first  resent 
ment,  they  will  be  glad  to  rally  under  him.  In  the  mean  time, 
he  will  take  care  not  to  disoblige  them ;  and  he  will  always 
court  those  among  them  who  are  best  fitted  for  tools.  He 
will  never  choose  to  lean  on  good  men,  because  he  knows  that 
they  will  never  support  his  bad  projects  ;  but,  instead  of  this, 
he  will  endeavor  to  disorganize  both  parties,  and  to  form  out 
of  them  a  third,  composed  of  men  fitted  by  their  characters  to 
be  conspirators  and  instruments  of  such  projects. 

"  That  this  will  be  his  future  conduct,  may  be  inferred  from 
his  past  plan,  and  from  the  admitted  quality  of  irregular  am 
bition.  Let  it  be  remembered  that  Mr.  Burr  has  never  ap 
peared  solicitous  for  fame,  and  that  great  ambition,  unchecked 
by  principle,  or  the  love  of  glory,  is  an  unruly  tyrant,  which 
never  can  keep  long  in  a  course  which  good  men  will  approve. 
As  to  the  last  point,  the  proposition  is  against  the  experience  of 
all  times.  Ambition,  without  principle,  was  never  long  under 
the  guidance  of  good  sense.  Besides  that,  really,  the  force  of 
Mr.  Burr's  understanding  is  much  overrated.  He  is  far  more 
tunning  than  wise,  far  more  dexterous  than  able. 

["  Fiery,  very  confidential.  —  In  my  opinion  he  is  inferior  in 
real  ability  to  Jefferson.  There  are  also  facts  against  the  sup 
position.  It  is  past  all  doubt  that  he  has  blamed  me  for  not 
having  improved  the  situation  I  once  was  in  to  change  the 
government.  That  when  answered  that  this  could  not  have 
been  done  without  guilt,  he  replied,  Les  grands  Ames  se  sou- 
dent  peu  des  petits  moraux  y*  that  when  told  the  thing  was 
ever  practicable,  from  the  genius  and  situation  of  the  coun 
try,  he  answered,  '  That  depends  upon  the  estimate  we  form 
of  the  human  passions,  and  of  the  means  of  influencing  them.' 
Does  this  prove  that  Mr.  Burr  would  consider  a  scheme  of 
usurpation  as  visionary  ?] 

"  The  truth  is,  with  great  apparent  coldness  he  is  the  most 
*  Groat  souls  care  little  for  the  minor  morals. 


284  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

sanguine  man  in  the  world.  He  thinks  every  thing  possible 
to  adventure  and  perseverance ;  and  though  I  believe  he  will 
fail,  I  think  it  almost  certain  he  will  attempt  usurpation,  and 
the  attempt  will  involve  great  mischief. 

"  But  there  is  one  point  of  view  which  seems  to  me  decis 
ive.  If  the  anti-Federalists,  who  prevailed  in  the  election,  are 
left  to  take  their  own  man,  they  remain  responsible,  and  the 
Federalists  remain  free,  united,  and  without  stain,  in  a  situa 
tion  to  resist  with  effect  pernicious  measures.  If  the  Federal 
ists  substitute  Burr,  they  adopt  him,  and  become  answerable 
for  him.  Whatever  may  be  the  theory  of  the  case,  abroad  and 
at  home  (for  so  from  the  beginning  it  will  be  taught),  Mr.  Burr 
must  become,  in  fact,  the  man  of  our  party ;  and  if  he  acts  ill, 
we  must  share  in  the  blame  and  disgrace.  By  adopting  him, 
we  do  all  we  can  to  reconcile  the  minds  of  Federalists  to  him, 
and  we  prepare  them  for  the  effectual  operation  of  his  acts. 
He  will,  doubtless,  gain  many  of  them ;  and  the  Federalists 
wih1  become  a  disorganized  and  contemptible  party.  Can 
there  be  any  serious  question  between  the  policy  of  leaving  the 
anti-Federalists  to  be  answerable  for  the  elevation  of  an  objec 
tionable  man,  and  that  of  adopting  ourselves,  and  becoming 
answerable  for  a  man  who,  on  all  hands,  is  acknowledged  to 
be  a  complete  Catiline  ?  'Tis  enough  to  state  the  question  to 
indicate  the  answer,  if  reason,  not  passion,  presides  in  the  de 
cision. 

"  You  may  communicate  this  and  my  former  letter  to  dis 
creet  and  confidential  friends." 

Upon  this  letter  a  remark  or  two  may  be  permitted.  A 
;nan  who,  after  knowing  Jefferson  as  intimately  as  Hamilton 
.ad,  could  deliberately  pronounce  him  "  a  contemptible  hypo 
crite,"  was  no  judge  of  men  ;  and  nothing,  therefore,  which  he 
says  of  an  opponent  has  any  value.  Jefferson  still  lives  in  the 
history  of  his  administration  —  lives  in  the  stamp  he  left  upon 
his  country's  intellect — lives  in  the  nine  volumes  of  his  letters. 
Read  all  these,  and  learn  whether  Thomas  Jefferson  was  or 
was  not  a  contemptible  hypocrite,  or  in  any  sense  contempt 
Ible.  The  horror  which  Hamilton  expresses  of  Godwin,  that 
gentle-hearted  enthusiast,  that  passionate  lover  of  justice  and 


THE     TIE     INTRIGUES.  2B5 

of  man,  that  friend  of  the  most  loveable  gentleman  of  his  day, 
Charles  Lamb,  is  ineffably  absurd.  If  Burr  really  said  that 
great  souls  do  not  much  regard  the  minor  moralities,  he  ut 
tered  as  deadly  a  falsehood  as  ever  fell  from  lips.  Great 
souls,  indeed,  know  no  minor  morals  ;  to  them  all  morals  are 
great,  august,  controlling.  They  know  no  degrees  in  right 
and  wrong.  Hamilton,  in  his  letter  to  Governor  Jay,  advising 
the  defeat  of  the  Republicans  by  a  governmental  trick,  utters 
sentiments  not  unlike  that  which  he  here  attributes  to  Burr. 
But  no  man  who  knows  men  will  judge  of  what  a  man  will  do 
by  what,  in  unguarded  moments,  he  says.* 

With  regard  to  Hamilton's  chronic  dread  of  Burr's  usurping 
the  government,  it  was  only  one  of  the  symptoms  of  the  Burr- 
iphobia  under  which  he  labored.  Scheming  for  a  reelection 
is  enough  to  keep  an  ambitious  man  amused  in  the  presiden 
tial  chair.  Two  things,  however,  strengthened  Hamilton's 
fear  of  usurpation.  One  was  the  recent  example  of  Bonaparte ; 
the  other,  the  very  general  opinion  among  the  wealthier 
classes  in  the  United  States,  that  the  Constitution  had  been 
tried  and  found  wanting.  Hamilton  was  of  that  opinion.  Of 
the  two,  Hamilton  was  more  likely  to  have  made  an  attempt 
to  subvert  the  government  than  Burr ;  for  Hamilton  was  al 
ready  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  its  subversion.  If  Burr 
had  formed  any  thing  like  &  purpose,  however  vague,  however 
remote  its  probable  execution,  to  seize  the  supreme  authority, 
he  would  not  have  begun  by  awakening  the  suspicions  of  the 
man  who  would  certainly  be  the  first  to  lead  an  outraged  peo 
ple  against  the  usurper. 

January  (No  date  named,  but  probably  about  the  20th). 
Hamilton  writes,  in  hot  haste,  to  Gouveneur  Morris,  at 

*  Jefferson's  integrity,  as  a  man,  has  never  been  disputed,  I  believe.  Bat 
fi  one  of  his  letters  *o  Dr.  Rush,  dated  January  3,  1808,  the  following  pas 
bage  occurs :  "  Thus  I  estimate  the  qualnies  of  the  mind :  1st.  Good  Humoi; 
2cL  Integrity,  3d.  Industry,  4tL  Science.  The  preference  of  the  first  to  the 
aecoui  quality  may  not  at  first  be  acquiesced  in ;  but,  certainly,  we  had  all 
tather  associate  with  a  good-humored,  lighfr-principled  man,  than  with  an  ill' 
tempered  rigorist  in  morality." 


280  fclFE     OF     AAKON     BURR. 

Washington,  to  communicate  some  information  for  use  against 
Burr. 

"  I  hasten,"  he  says,  "  to  give  you  some  information  which 
may  be  useful.  I  know,  as  a  fact,  that  overtures  have  been 
made  by  leading  individuals  of  the  Federal  party  to  Mr.  Burr, 
who  declines  to  give  any  assurance  respecting  his  future  in 
tentions  and  conduct,  saying  that  to  do  it  might  injure  him 
with  his  friends,  and  hinder  their  cooperation ;  that  all  ought 
to  be  inferred  from  the  necessity  of  his  future  situation,  as  it 
regarded  the  disappointment  and  animosity  of  the  anti-Feder 
alists  ;  that  the  Federalists,  relying  upon  this,  might  proceed 
in  the  certainty  that,  upon  a  second  ballot,  New  York  and 
Tennessee  would  join  him.  It  is  likewise  ascertained  that  he 
perfectly  understands  himself  with  Edward  Livingston,  who 
will  be  his  agent  at  the  seat  of  government. 

"  Thus  you  see  that  Mr.  Burr  is  resolved  to  preserve  him 
self  in  a  situation  to  adhere  to  his  former  friends,  engage 
ments,  and  projects,  and  to  use  the  Federalists  as  tools  oi  his 
aggran  dizement . 

"  He  will  satisfy  them  that  he  has  kept  himself  free  to  con 
tiiiue  his  relations  with  them,  and  as  many  of  them  are  secretly 
attached  to  him,  they  will  all  be  speedily  induced  to  rally  un 
der  his  standard,  to  which  he  will  add  the  unprincipled  of  our 
party,  and  he  will  laugh  at  the  rest. 

"It  is  a  fact  thatrMr.  Burr  is  now  in  frequent  and  close  con 
ference  with  a  Frenchman,  who  is  suspected  of  being  an  agent 
of  the  French  government,  and  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  he 
Isdll  be  the  firm  ally  of  Buonaparte. 

"  You  are  at  liberty  to  show  this  letter  to  such  friends  as 
/ou  think  fit,  especially  Mr.  Bayard,  of  Delaware,  in  whose 
principles  and  sound  sense  I  have  much  confidence. 

"  Depend  upon  it,  men  never  played  a  more  foolish  game 
than  will  do  the  Federalists,  if  they  support  Burr." 

From  this  letter  we  learn,  that  Hamilton's  information  re 
specting  an  opponent  must  be  received  with  the  same  caution 
as  his  opinion.  Edward  Livingston  was  no  agent  of  Burr's. 
He  was,  at  this  time,  as  will  soon  appear,  true  to  himself  and 
to  hAS  party,  and  one  of  Jefferson's  most  confidential  friends. 


THE    TIE     INTEIGUES.  287 

January  21  st.  —  A  hurried  letter  from  Hamilton  to  Sedg- 
Refers  him  to  his  long  letter  to  Bayard.  Begs  him  to 
reconsider  his  preference  for  Burr.  Adds  :  "  I  never  was  so 
much  mistaken  as  I  shall  be  if  our  friends,  in  the  event  of  their 
success,  do  not  rue  the  preference  they  will  give  to  that  Cati 
line." 

Hamilton's  warnings  were  little  heeded  by  the  Federalists. 
His  denunciations  of  Colonel  Burr  were  attributed  to  profes 
sional  jealousy,  or  personal  enmity,  and  the  Federal  members 
burned  with  desire  to  disappoint  the  Republicans  by  electing 
Burr. 

The  day  for  the  election  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
arrived.  The  House  consisted  of  one  hundred  and  six  mem 
bers,  of  whom  a  majority  were  Federalists.  There  were  then 
sixteen  States  in  the  Union ;  a  majority  of  the  States  was 
necessary  to  an  election ;  and  the  House  was  limited  in  its 
choice  to  the  two  candidates  who  had  received  the  highest 
number  of  electoral  votes.  If  a  simple  majority  of  the  mem 
bers  would  have  sufficed,  Burr  would  certainly  have  beeo 
elected  on  the  first  ballot.  Before  proceeding  to  the  great 
business  of  the  day,  the  House  resolved  not  to  adjourn  till  a 
President  had  been  chosen  —  which,  John  Randolph  says,  was 
a  Federal  expedient  designed  to  starve  or  worry  the  nnde- 
cided  members  into  voting  for  Burr.  During  the  balloting, 
the  public  were  excluded  from  the  galleries,  but,  on  the  floor 
of  the  House,  seats  were  provided  for  the  Senators  and  the 
President.  It  chanced  that  some  of  the  members  were  sick  at 
the  time  —  for  them  sofas  were  provided.  One  gentleman, 
who  was  seriously  ill,  was  attended  in  the  House  by  his  wife. 

On  the  first  ballot  eight  States  voted  for  Jefferson,  namely, 
New  York,  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  North  Carolina,  Vir 
ginia,  Kentucky,  Georgia,  and  Tennessee.  Six  States  voted 
for  Burr,  namely,  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Isl 
and,  Connecticut,  Delaware,  and  South  Carolina.  Vermont 
and  Maryland  were  divided  equally  between  the  two  candi 
dates.  Neither  on  this  ballot,  nor  on  any  future  one,  did  Jef- 
person  receive  more  than  fifty-one  votes.  The  balloting  con 


288  LIFE     OP     AARON     BURR. 

tinued,  at  intervals,  all  that  day,  all  through  the  night,  ana 
until  noon  of  the  day  following.  The  vote  was  taken  twenty- 
nine  times  without  the  slightest  change  or  prospect  of  change. 
Then  the  exhausted  members  evaded  their  resolution  not  to 
adjourn,  by  agreeing  to  take  a  recess.  Dogged  obstinacy  sat 
on  every  countenance. 

For  seven  days  the  country  was  kept  in  suspense,  and  Rumor, 
with  all  her  tcngues,  was  busy.  During  this  period,  and  im 
mediately  after  it,  certain  letters  were  written,  and  entries 
made  in  private  journals,  the  perusal  of  which  will  complete 
the  reader's  knowledge  of  the  Tie,  and  the  Tie  intrigues. 


February  y&h.  —  On  the  first  day  of  the  balloting,  Judge 
Cooper  of  New  York  (father  of  J.  Fennimore  Cooper),  a  re 
markably  '  highflying  Federalist,'  and,  at  that  time,  a  member 
of  the  House,  wrote  as  follows  to  his  friend  Thomas  Morris  : 

"  We  have  this  day  locked  ourselves  up  by  a  rule  to  pro 
ceed  to  choose  a  President  before  we  adjourn.  *  *  *  We 
shall  run  Burr  perseveringly.  You  shall  hear  of  the  result 
instantly  after  the  fact  is  ascertained.  A  little  good  manage* 
ment  would  have  secured  our  object  on  the  first  vote,  but  now 
it  is  too  late  for  any  operation  to  be  gone  into,  except  that  of 
adhering  to  Burr,  and  leave  the  consequences  to  those  who 
have  heretofore  been  his  friends.  If  we  succeed,  a  faithful 
support  must,  on  our  part,  be  given  to  his  administration, 
which,  I  hope,  will  be  wise  and  energetic." 

Two  days  after,  Judge  Cooper  writes  again  to  Mr.  Morris  : 
"We  have  postponed,  until  to-morrow  11  o'clock,  the  voting 
for  President.  All  stand  firm.  Jefferson  eight  —  Burr  six  — 
divided  two.  Had  Burr  done  any  thing  for  himself,  he 
would  long  ere  this  have  been  President.  If  a  majority  would 
answer,  he  would  have  it  on  every  vote." 

i  id 

February  ±&k.  —  This  was  the  second  day  of  the  balloting 
Jefferson,  who  was  then  in  his  place  as  President  of  the  Sen« 
ate,  enters  in  his  diary  the  following  gossip  : 

"  Edward  Livingston  tells  me  that  Bayard  applied  to-day 
*>r  last  night,  to  General  Samuel  Smith,  and  represented  t« 


THE     TIE     INTRIGUES.  289 

him  the  expediency  of  his  coming  over  to  the  States  who  vote 
for  Burr,  that  there  was  nothing  in  the  way  of  appointment 
which  he  might  not  command,  and  particularly  mentioned  the 
Recretaryship  of  the  navy.  Smith  asked  him  if  he  was  author- 
ized  to  make  the  offer.  He  said  he  was  authorized.  Smith 
told  this  to  Livingston,  and  to  W.  C.  Nichols,  who  confirms  it 
to  me.  Bayard  in  like  manner  tempted  Livingston,  not  by 
offering  any  particular  office,  but  by  representing  to  him  his, 
Livingston's,  intimacy  and  connection  with  Burr;  that  from 
him  he  had  every  thing  to  expect,  if  he  would  come  over  to 
him.  To  Dr.  Linn  of  New  Jersey,  they  have  offered  the 
government  of  New  Jersey." 

The  part  which  Bayard  took  in  the  business  will  be  narrated 
by  himself  in  a  moment.  Upon  the  publication  of  the  volume 
of  Mr.  Jefferson's  work  which  contains  the  above,  General 
Smith,  then  a  Senator  from  Maryland,  declared  in  the  Senate 
that  no  such  proposition  was  made  to  him  by  Mr.  Bayard. 

February  14ZA,  Jefferson  records  the  following:  "General 
Armstrong  tells  me  that  Gouveneur  Morris,  in  conversation 
with  him  to-day  on  the  scene  which  is  passing,  expressed  him 
self  thus.  '  How  comes  it,'  says  he,  l  that  Burr,  who  is  four 
hundred  miles  off  (at  Albany)  has  agents  here  at  work  with 
great  activity,  while  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  is  on  the  spot,  does 
nothing  ?' " 

A  year  or  two  after  the  "  scene"  was  over,  it  became  the 
subject  of  conversation,  one  day,  at  Jefferson's  table.  After 
dinner,  Jefferson  wrote  in  his  diary  as  follows :  "  Matthew 
Lyon  noticed  the  insinuations  against  the  Republicans  of  Wash 
ington,  pending  the  presidential  election,  and  expressed  his 
wish  that  every  thing  was  spoken  out  which  was  known  ;  that 
it  would  then  appear  on  which  side  there  was  a  bidding  for 
votes,  and  he  declared  that  John  Brown  of  Rhode  Island, 
urging  him  to  vote  for  Colonel  Burr,  used  these  words,  c  What 
is  it  you  want,  Colonel  Lyon  ?  Is  it  office,  is  it  money  ?  Only 
say  what  you  want,  and  you  shall  have  it.' " 

Who  can  believe  a  man  to  whom  such  a  proposition  could 
have  been  even  remotely  hinted?  Jefferson  shows  himself 
weak  in  recording  stuff  of  this  kind. 

13 


290  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

That  ev&ry  thing  against  Burr  may  appear,  I  copy  the  follow 
ing  from  Jefferson's  diary  of  a  still  later  date,  January,  1804: 
"  Colonel  Hitchburn  of  Massachusetts  reminded  me  of  a  letter 
he  had  written  me  from  Philadelphia,  pending  the  presidential 
election,  says  he  did  not  therein  give  the  details.  That  he  was 

in  company  at  Philadelphia  with  Colonel  Burr  and  : 

that  in  the  course  of  the  conversation  on  the  election,  Colonel 
Burr  said,  c  We  must  have  a  President,  and  a  constitutional 
one,  in  some  way.'  c  How  is  it  to  be  done  ?'  says  Hitchburn  ; 
4  Mr.  Jefferson's  friends  will  not  quit  him,  and  his  enemies 
are  not  strong  enough  to  carry  another.'  '  Why,'  says  Burr, 
1  our  friends  must  join  the  Federalists,  and  give  the  President.' 
The  next  morning  at  breakfast,  Colonel  Burr  repeated  nearly 
the  same,  saying,  '  We  can  not  be  without  a  President,  our 
friends  must  join  the  Federal  vote.'  *  But,'  says  Hitchburn, 
'  we  shall  then  be  without  a  Yice-President,  who  is  to  be  our 
Vice-President  ?'  Colonel  Burr  answered,  '  Mr.  Jefferson.' " 

This  sounds  like  the  toadying  tale  of  an  office-seeker. 

February  15^/t.  —  Mr.  Jefferson  writes  to  his  friend  Monroe : 
"  If  the  Federalists  could  have  been  permitted  to  pass  a  law 
for  putting  the  government  into  the  hands  of  an  officer,  they 
would  certainly  have  prevented  an  election.  But  we  thought 
it  best  to  declare,  one  and  all,  openly  and  firmly,  that  the  day 
such  an  act  passed,  the  middle  States  would  arm  ;  and  that  no 
such  usurpation,  even  for  a  single  day,  should  be  submitted 
to.  This  first  shook  them ;  and  they  were  completeJy  alarmed 
at  the  resource  for  wrhich  we  declared,  namely,  to  reorganize 
the  government,  and  to  amend  it.  The  very  word  convention 
gives  them  the  horrors,  as  in  the  present  democrat)  ,t»l  spirit  of 
America  they  fear  they  should  lose  some  of  the  it  /orite  mor 
eels  of  the  Constitution." 

One  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  letters  to  Dr.  Rush  roc  >rds  a  scene 
that  occurred,  during  this  terrible  week,  betwe'  **  himself  and 
President  Adams : 

"  When  the  election  between  Burr  and  myself,"  wrotf  Jef 
ferson,  "  was  kept  in  suspense  by  the  Fe«(er«uV/»,  and 


THE    TIE     INTRIGUES.  29j 

were  meditating  to  place  the  President  of  the  Senate  at  the 
aead  of  the  government,  I  catted  on  Mr.  Adams,  with  a  view 
to  have  this  desperate  measure  prevented  by  his  negative.  He 
grew  warm  in  an  instant,  and  said,  with  a  vehemence  he  had 
not  used  toward  me  before, 

" '  Sir,  the  event  of  the  election  is  in  your  own  power.  TOD 
have  only  to  say  you  will  do  justice  to  the  public  creditors, 
maintain  the  navy,  and  not  disturb  those  holding  offices,  and 
the  government  will  instantly  be  put  into  your  hands.  We 
know  it  is  the  wish  of  the  people  it  should  be  so.' 

"  *  Mr.  Adams,'  said  I,  '  I  know  not  what  part  of  my  con 
duct,  in  either  public  or  private  life,  can  have  authorized  a 
doubt  of  my  fidelity  to  the  public  engagements.  I  say,  how 
ever,  I  will  not  come  into  the  government  by  capitulation  —  I 
will  not  enter  on  it  but  in  perfect  freedom  to  follow  the  dic 
tates  of  my  own  judgment.' 

"  I  had  before  given  the  same  answer  to  the  same  intima 
tion  from  Gouveneur  Morris. 

"  '  Then,'  said  he,  '  things  must  take  their  course.' 

"  I  turned  the  conversation  to  something  else,  and  soon  took 
my  leave.  It  was  the  first  time  in  our  lives  we  had  ever 
parted  with  any  thing  like  dissatisfaction." 

February  22c?. — The  great  question  had  been  decided,  but 
Hamilton  had  not  heard  the  news.  He  writes  to-day,  a  last 
letter  to  a  friend  at  Washington,  mentioning  a  fact  which,  he 
hoped,  would  utterly  defeat  the  election  of  Burr.  As  one  of 
the  hundred  proofs  of  Burr's  consistency  and  integrity,  as  a 
politician,  it  deserves  attention.  Hamilton  says  : 

"  After  my  ill  success  hitherto,  I  ought  perhaps,  in  prudence^ 
to  say  nothing  further  on  the  subject.  But  situated  as  things 
now  are,  I  certainly  have  no  advice  to  give.  Yet  I  may,  with 
out  impropriety,  communicate  a  fact  —  it  is  this : 

"  Colonel  Burr  is  taking  an  active  personal  part  in  favor  of 
Mr.  Clinton,  against  Mr.  Van  Rensselaer,  as  Governor  of  this 
Btate.  I  have,  upon  my  honor,  direct  and  indubitable  evi 
dence,  that  between  two  and  three  weeks  past,  he  wrote  a 
rery  urgent  letter  to  Oliver  Phelps,  of  the  western  part  of 


292  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BURR. 

this  State,  to  induce  his  exertions  in  favor  of  Clinton ,  Is  m>V 
this  an  unequivocal  confirmation  of  what  I  predicted,  that  he 
will,  in  any  event,  continue  to  play  the  Jacobin  game  ?  Can 
any  thing  else  explain  his  conduct  at  such  a  moment,  and 
under  such  circumstances  ?  I  might  add  seven  il  other  things 
to  prove  that  he  is  resolved  to  adhere  to,  and  cultivate  his 
own  party,  who  lately,  more  than  ever,  have  shown  the  cloven 
foot  of  rank  Jacobinism." 

To  what  a  ridiculous  pitch  Hamilton's  feelings  were  wrought 
during  the  struggle,  is  shown  by  his  subsequent  avowal  to  Mr. 
Bayard :  "  It  is  believed  to  be  an  alarming  fact,  that  while  the 
question  of  the  presidential  election  was  pending  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  parties  were  organizing  in  several  of  the 
cities,  in  the  event  of  their  being  no  election,  to  cut  off  the 
leading  Federalists  and  seize  the  government  /" 

March  8th.  —  After  seven  days  of  occasional  dogged  ballot 
ing,  the  excitement  in  the  country  ever  on  the  increase,  and 
threatening  to  become  serious,  the  struggle  was  terminated 
by  Mr.  Bayard.  The  manner  in  which  he  did  this  he  related 
at  the  time  in  a  letter  to  Hamilton,  which  letter  is  an  import 
ant  link  in  Burr's  vindication. 

"  Your  views,"  wrote  Mr.  Bayard,  on  the  8th  of  March, 
"  in  relation  to  the  election  differed  very  little  from  my  own, 
but  I  was  obliged  to  yield  to  a  torrent,  which  I  perceived 
might  be  diverted,  but  could  not  be  opposed. 

"In  one  case  I  was  willing  to  take  Burr,  but  I  never  consid- 
dered  it  as  a  case  likely  to  happen.  If  by  his  conduct  he  had 
completely  forfeited  the  confidence  and  friendship  of  his  party, 
and  left  himself  no  resort  but  the  support  of  the  Federalists, 
where  are  many  considerations  which  would  have  induced  me 
to  prefer  him  to  Jefferson.  But  I  was  enabled  soon  to  dis 
cover  that  he  was  determined  not  to  shackle  himself  with 
Federal  principles ;  and  it  became  evident  that  if  he  got  in 
without  being  absolutely  committed  to  his  own  party,  that  he 
would  be  disposed  and  obliged  to  play  the  game  of  M'Kean 
upon  an  improved  plan  and  enlarged  scale. 

"  In  the  origin  of  the  business,  I  had  contrived  to  lay  hol<? 


THE    TIE     INTBIGUES.  293 

0f  ail  the  doubtful  votes  in  the  House,  which  enaUed  me,  ac 
cording  to  views  which  presented  themselves,  to  protract  01 
terminate  the  controversy. 

"  This  arrangement  was  easily  made  from  the  opinion  read- 
ily  adopted  from  the  consideration  that,  representing  a  small 
State  without  resources  which  could  supply  the  means  of  self- 
protection,  I  should  not  dare  to  proceed  to  any  lengths  which 
would  jeopardize  the  Constitution,  or  the  safety  of  my  State, 
When  the  experiment  was  fully  made,  and  acknowledged  upon 
all  hands  to  have  completely  ascertained  that  Burr  was  re 
solved  not  to  commit  himself,  and  that  nothing  remained  but 
to  appoint  a  President  by  law,  or  leave  the  government  with 
out  one,  I  came  out  with  the  most  explicit  and  determined 
declaration  of  voting  for  Jefferson,  You  can  not  well  imagine 
the  clamor  and  vehement  invective  to  which  I  was  subjected 
for  some  days.  We  had  several  caucuses.  All  acknowledged 
that  nothing  but  desperate  measures  remained,  which  several 
were  disposed  to  adopt,  and  but  few  were  willing  openly  to 
disapprove.  We  broke  up  each  time  in  confusion  and  dis 
cord,  and  the  manner  of  the  last  ballot  was  arranged  but  a 
few  minutes  before  the  ballot  was  given.  Our  former  har 
mony,  however,  has  since  been  restored. 

"  The  public  declarations  of  my  intention  to  vote  for  Jeffer- 
pon,  to  which  I  have  alluded,  were  made  without  a  general 
sonsultation,  knowing  that  it  would  be  an  easier  task  to  close 
the  breach  which  I  foresaw,  when  it  was  the  result  of  an  act 
done  without  concurrence,  than  if  it  had  proceeded  from  one 
against  a  decision  of  the  party.  Had  it  not  been  for  a  single 
gentleman  from  Connecticut,  the  eastern  States  would  finally 
have  voted  hi  blank,  in  the  same  manner  as  done  by  South 
Carolina  and  Delaware ;  but  because  he  refused,  the  rest  of 
the  delegation  refused ;  and  because  Connecticut  insisted  on 
continuing  the  ballot  for  Burr,  New  Hampshire,  Massachu 
setts,  and  Rhode  Island  refused  to  depart  from  their  former 
vote. 

"  The  means  existed  of  electing  Burr,  but  this  required  his 
Cooperation.  By  deceiving  one  man  (a  great  blockhead), 
2nd  tempting  two  (not  incorruptible))  he  might  have  seen  fed 


£94  LIFE     OP     AARON     BURE. 

9,  majority  of  the  States.  He  will  never  have  another  chance 
of  being  President  of  the  United  States ;  and  the  little  use 
he  has  made  of  the  one  which  has  occurred,  gives  me  but  an 
humble  opinion  of  the  talents  of  an  unprincipled  man." 

Thus  ended  the  great  struggle,  during  which  the  Constitu 
tion  was  subjected  to  the  severest  strain  it  has  ever  known, 
and  bore  it  without  one  moment's  real  danger  of  giving  way 
Its  history  has  been  here  given  in  the  language  of  Colonel 
Burr's  bitter  enemies.  The  impression  which  that  history  so 
related  will  leave  on  the  mind  of  the  reader,  can  not  be  fore 
seen.  It  was  the  diligent  reading  of  Burr's  political  history 
in  the  letters,  pamphlets,  and  newspapers  of  his  enemies  and 
opponents,  which  convinced  me  that,  as  a  partizan,  he  acted 
throughout  with  the  strictest  honor  and  consistency ! 

The  4th  of  March,  1801,  was  a  day  of  rejoicing  throughout 
the  United  States.  After  a  period  of  painful  anxiety,  the  coun 
try  breathed  again.  Processions,  orations,  and  banquets  tes 
tified,  in  the  larger  cities  and  towns,  to  the  public  joy.  The 
inauguration  was  happily  achieved  at  the  usual  hour.  In  the 
evening,  President  Jefferson  and  Vice-President  Burr  received 
the  congratulations  of  gentlemen  of  both  parties  at  the  presi 
dential  mansion,  where  all  but  a  few  of  the  most  bigoted  Fed 
eral  Senators  and  Representatives  were  to  be  seen  in  the 
throng  that  gathered  round  the  victorious  chiefs.  The  in 
auguration  speech  had  lulled  the  apprehensions  of  the  Feder 
alists,  and  the  new  order  of  things  was  accepted  with  a  good 
grace. 

Far  away,  at  Albany,  the  Republicans  of  tne  New  York 
legislature  were  banqueting  hilariously.  In  reporting  the 
proceedings  of  this  occasion,  the  Albany  Register  informed 
the  world  that  the  company  "  did  not  forget  the  important 
success  of  the  Republicans  in  the  choice  of  that  firm  and  tried 
patriot,  Aaron  Burr,  as  Vice-President  of  the  United  States." 
Kext  to  the  toast  given  in  honor  of  the  President,  the  follow 
Ing  was  offered : 

u  Aaron  Birr,  Vice-President  of  the  United  States ;  his  um 


THE     TIE    INTRIGUES.  295 

form  and  patriotic  exertions  in  favor  of  Republicanism  eclipsed 
only  by  his  late  disinterested  conduct." 

Not  a  whisper  of  dissension  was  heard.  De  Witt  Clinton, 
who  had  held  aloof  from  the  great  campaign  of  1800,  was 
present  at  the  banquet,  and  offered  this  toast : 

"  Our  Republican  brethren  of  the  South  —  may  we  always  be 
united  with  them  in  the  elevation  of  patriots,  and  the  promo 
tion  of  good  principles." 

Fiery  John  Adams  could  not  submit  with  decent  dignity  to 
his  fate.  "  The  last  day,"  says  Jefferson,  "  of  his  political 
power,  the  last  hour,  and  even  beyond  midnight,  were  em 
ployed  in  filling  all  offices,  and  especially  permanent  ones, 
with  the  bitterest  Federalists,  and  providing  for  me  the  alter 
native,  either  to  execute  the  government  by  my  enemies, 
whose  study  it  would  be  to  thwart  and  defeat  all  my  meas 
ures,  or  to  incur  the  odium  of  such  numerous  removals  from 
office  as  might  bear  me  down."  By  daybreak  on  the  morning 
of  the  inauguration  the  ex-President  had  left  the  seat  of  gov 
ernment  for  ever.* 

The  Federal  party  tasted  the  sweets  of  power  no  more. 
The  leaders  continued,  and  continue,  to  forebode  the  country's 
ruin,  while  they  enjoy  the  lion's  share  of  its  prosperity. 

Hamilton  bought  a  few  acres  of  land  near  the  city,  and  re 
lieved  the  monotony  of  law  by  improving  his  grounds.  Wher. 
next  he  wrote  to  General  Pinckney,  he  begins  his  letter  by 
requesting  his  friend  to  send  him  some  Carolina  melon-seed 

*  John  Adams  went  to  his  grave  without  understanding  the  nature  of  the 
revolution  which  ousted  him.  In  1811  he  wrote  to  Dr.  Rush :  "  In  point  of 
Republicanism,  all  the  difference  I  ever  knew  or  could  discover  between  you 
and  me,  or  between  Jefferson  and  me,  consisted, 

"  1.  In  the  difference  between  speeches  and  messages.  I  was  a  monarchist 
!>ecause  I  thought  a  speech  more  manly,  more  respectful  to  Congress  and  the 
nation.  Jefferson  and  Rush  p-eferred  messages. 

"  2.  I  held  levees  once  a  week,  that  all  my  time  might  not  be  wasted  by 
die  visits.  Jefferson's  whole  eigat  years  was  a  levee. 

"  3.  I  dined  a  large  company  once  or  twice  a  week,  Jefterson  dined  a 
lozen  every  day. 

"  4.  Jefferson  and  Rush  were  for  liberty  and  straight  hair.  I  thought  curled 
aaur  was  as  Republican  as  straight." 


896  LIFE     OP     AAEON     BURR. 

for  his  new  garden,  and  some  Carolina  parroquets  for  his 
daughter.  "A  garden,  you  know,  is  a  very  usual  refuge  for 
a  disappointed  politician,"  said  he.  His  letters,  indeed,  were 
still  full  of  politics,  but  they  were  often  couched  in  the  Ian- 
guage  of  despair.  "  Mine  is  an  odd  destiny,"  he  wrote  to 
Gouveneur  Morris.  "  Perhaps  no  man  in  the  United  States 
has  sacrificed  or  done  more  for  the  present  Constitution  than 
myself;  and,  contrary  to  all  my  anticipations  of  its  fate,  aa 
you  know,  from  the  very  beginning.  I  am  still  laboring  to 
prop  the  frail  and  worthless  fabric.  Yet  I  have  the  murmurs 
of  its  friends,  no  less  than  the  curses  of  its  foes,  for  my  re 
ward.  What  can  I  do  better  than  withdraw  from  the  scene  ? 
Every  day  proves  to  me,  more  and  more,  that  this  Americar. 
world  was  not  made  for  me." 

The  country  was  at  peace.  The  strife  of  parties,  for  the 
moment,  ceased.  The  real  wish  of  the  people  was  so  com 
pletely  satisfied  by  the  election  of  Jefferson,  that,  for  twenty- 
four  years  he  and  his  friends  kept  possession  of  the  govern 
ment  without  serious  opposition.  Jefferson  inherited  the 
errors  of  Adams  and  the  able  devices  of  Hamilton ;  by  aban 
doning  the  former,  and  retaining  the  latter,  and,  above  all,  by 
paying  homage  to  the  republican  idea  in  the  minor  arrange 
ments  of  his  house  and  administration,  he  won  a  vast  and  im 
movable  popularity. 

Minor  arrangements,  do  I  call  them  ?  Of  all  the  facts  that 
contributed  to  the  popularity  which  America  enjoyed  in 
Europe,  down  to  the  beginning  of  the  present  contention  be 
tween  Democracy  and  Slavery,  a  popularity  which  peopled  the 
free  States,  no  tale  was  so  captivating  to  the  European  im 
agination,  sick  of  tawdry  relics  of  barbarous  ages,  sick  of 
courts  and  their  stupid  usages,  as  this  :  In  America  any  mar 
may  go  and  see  the  President,  and  shake  hands  with  him . 
Cheap  land  was  not  the  attraction.  Land  was  cheap  in  Aus 
tralia,  in  Canada,  in  Brazil,  in  Virginia.  It  was  that  little  fact 
and  what  it  implied,  which  freighted  our  homeward-bound 
ships  with  wealth  in  its  most  condensed  and  productive  form, 
namely,  honest,  stalwart  human  beings ! 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE    VICE-PRESIDENT. 

Fmt  OFFICE  OF  VICE-PRESIDENT  —  MABBIAGE  OF  THEODOSIA  —  HEB  SON  —  RUBE'S  01 
LIGHT  IN  HIM  —  His  STYLK  OF  LIVING  —  His  COUBTSHIP  OF  CELESTB —  His  POPV- 

LABITY   AND   Q  ENEBAL   GOOD   FOBTUNE. 

WE  behold  our  hero  now  upon  the  summit  of  his  career 
At  the  age  of  forty-five,  ten  years  after  becoming  known  in 
national  politics,  he  stands  one  step  below  the  highest  place 
to  which  by  politics  a  man  can  rise. 

The  office  of  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  besides 
the  chance  which  gives  it  importance,  has,  in  any  case,  an 
odor  of  nationality  about  it  which  gives  it  dignity.  Impetuous 
John  Adams  called  it  an  insignificant  office.  But  that  was 
when  the  old  war-horse  heard  the  noise  of  battle  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  or  saw  it  waging  before  him  in  the  Senate, 
and  longed,  as  of  old,  to  plunge  into  the  thickest  of  the  fight. 
Adams  really  enjoyed  the  safe  honors  of  the  place  as  well  as 
any  man.  At  that  day,  something  of  the  old  sanctity  still 
clung  to  high  office,  and  it  was  more  to  be  Vice-President  than 
it  is  now.  Burr,  too,  stood  in  the  line  of  succession.  Adams 
rose  from  the  second  office  to  the  first,  and  Jefferson  had  just 
done  the  same.  That  Aaron  Burr  should  in  like  manner  be 
advanced,  was  what  precedent  indicated,  what  his  partisans 
counted  on,  and  what  the  people  naturally  looked  for.  Mean 
while,  he  wore  his  honors  with  the  airy  dignity  which  be 
longed  to  the  man.  It  is  apparent  in  his  merry,  sprightly 
correspondence,  that  he  took  pleasure  in  filling  a  place  that 
called  into  conspicuous  exercise  the  very  qualities  in  which  he 
Excelled  all  the  public  men  of  his  time. 

He  was  happy  in  his  domestic  circumstances.  His  two 
»tep-sonSj  to  whom  he  had  evar  shown  more  than  a  father's 

13* 


296  LIFE     OP     AABON     BURR. 

liberality,  had  prospered  well  in  life.  One  of  them  was 
Judge  Prevost,  Recorder  of  the  city  of  New  York ;  the 
other,  a  country  gentleman  of  competent  estate  in  Westches- 
ter  county.  A  young  lady  of  French  extraction,  whom  he 
had,  in  effect,  adopted,  and  who  had  grown  up  and  been  edu 
cated  with  Theodosia,  and  whom  he  loved  only  less  than  his 
own  child,  was  married,  about  this  time,  to  a  young  man  of  a 
distinguished  southern  family. 

And  Theodosia  was  married.  While  the  politicians  supposed 
that  Colonel  Burr  was  full  of  the  alleged  tie  negotiation,  and 
some  of  them  imagined  that  he  was  intriguing  with  all  his 
might  for  the  presidency,  he  was,  in  reality,  occupied  with  the 
marriage  of  his  daughter  with  Joseph  Alston  of  South  Caro 
lina,  which  occurred  while  the  great  question  was  pending. 
Thi&,  with  his  duties  in  the  legislature,  absorbed  his  thoughts 
and  time.  It  was  a  marriage  in  every  respect  fortunate  and 
suitable.  Mr.  Alston  was  twenty-two  years  of  age,  a  gentle 
man  in  all  the  senses  of  the  word,  and  possessed  of  considerable 
property  in  rice  plantations.  He  was  also  a  man  of  talent,  as 
is  evident  from  his  subsequent  career,  and  from  the  elegance, 
ingenuity,  and  force  of  his  letters  to  Theodosia.  When  first 
he  became  her  accepted  suitor,  he  was  merely  the  young  man 
of  fortune,  without  any  definite  object  in  life.  He  had  been 
admitted  to  the  bar,  it  is  true,  but  had  never  had  nor  sought 
professional  employment.  Colonel  Burr  fired  him  with  his 
own  ambition,  stimulated  his  powers,  urged  and  directed  his 
studies,  advised  his  occasional  appearance  in  the  courts,  and 
induced  him  to  enter  the  political  arena.  Mr.  Alston  soon 
made  himself  prominent  in  the  politics  of  his  native  State,  of 
which,  in  due  time,  he  became  governor.  "  Burr  was  a  princely 
father-in-law,"  says  a  gentleman  still  living,  who  was  intimate 
with  both  families. 

I  can  well  believe  it.  u  You  know,"  he  wrote  to  Theodo* 
eia,  after  she  had  gone  to  her  southern  home,  "  that  you  and 
your  concerns  are  the  highest,  the  dearest  interest  I  have  in 
this  world,  one  in  comparison  with  which  all  others  are  insig 
uificant."  Father  and  daughter  were  on  delightful  terms  with 
3ne  another :  he  playful,  tender,  considerate,  wise,  confiding 


THE     VICE-PRESIDENT.  299 

ivery  thing  to  her ;  she  amusing  him  with  her  graceful  wit, 
cheering  him  with  her  affection,  reposing  in  him  an  absolute 
trust.  He  still  directed  her  studies.  Indeed,  the  burden  of 
his  advice  to  her  always  was :  Never  cease  to  improve  your 
mind ;  better  lose  your  head  than  your  habits  of  study.  "  The 
longer  I  live,"  she  writes  to  him,  "  the  more  frequently  the 
truth  of  your  advice  evinces  itself,  that  occupation  is  necessary 
to  give  us  command  over  ourselves."  That  is  an  eminently 
Burr-ian  maxim. 

Her  removal  to  a  State  which  was  then  twenty  days'  journey 
from  New  York,  was  a  drawback  to  his  happiness  in  her  mar 
riage.  But,  during  these  happy  years,  Theodosia's  visits  to 
the  home  of  her  childhood  were  frequent  and  long.  And  who 
so  much  caressed  as  the  beautiful  young  matron  from  South 
Carolina,  the  daughter  of  the  Vice-President  ?  She  led  the 
society  of  two  States ;  and  was  worthy  to  lead  it.  It  is  not 
difficult  to  discover  that  she  preferred  her  northern  home. 
She  declared  that  the  society  of  New  York  was  so  superior  to 
that  of  the  South,  that  a  woman  must  be  a  fool  who  denied  it. 
Even  our  scenery  was  incomparably  finer,  she  thought.  One 
who  only  knows  the  outskirts  of  New  York,  as  they  now  ap 
pear,  tunneled,  excavated,  shantied,  and  every  way  disfigured 
by  the  advance-guard  of  the  marching  metropolis,  can  not 
recognize  Theodosia's  description  of  the  scene  as  it  was  in 
1802.  After  returning  to  her  father's  town-house  one  day, 
from  a  visit  to  Richmond  Hill,  which  excursion  she  called  "  a 
ride  into  the  country,"  she  wrote  to  her  husband  thus  :  "  Never 
did  I  behold  this  island  so  beautiful.  The  variety  of  vivid 
greens ;  the  finely-cultivated  fields  and  gaudy  gardens ;  the 
neat,  cool  air  of  the  cits'  boxes,  peeping  through  straight  row? 
of  tall  poplars,  and  the  elegance  of  some  gentlemen's  seats, 
commanding  a  view  of  the  majestic  Hudson,  and  the  high, 
dark  shores  of  New  Jersey,  altogether  form  a  scene  so  lively. 
so  touching,  and  to  me  now  so  new,  that  I  was  in  constant 
apture." 

In  due  time  her  boy,  her  only  child,  was  born,  whom  she 
named  after  her  father.  Henceforth  this  boy,  next  to  Theo- 
ttcsia,  was  the  dearest  object  on  earth  to  Aaron  Burr.  Surely, 


300  LIFE     OP     AAKON     BURR. 

never  was  grandchild  so  loved  as  this  grandchild  was  by  him 
He  was  never  weary  of  its  company.  lie  could  never  heai1 
enough  of  its  ways  and  words.  Theodosia  filled  whole  letters 
with  narratives  of  the  boy's  small  exploits  and  quaint  sayings ; 
and  her  father  would  answer :  "  You  are  a  dear,  good  little 
girl  to  write  me  so,  and  of  dear  little  Gampy,  too,  so  much  ; 
yet  never  enough.  God  bless  thee."  Gampy  was  the  child'- 
mode  of  pronouncing  Grandpa,  and  Burr  never  called  him  by 
any  other  name,  unless  it  was  Gampillus,  Gampillo,  Gamp,  or 
some  other  variation  of  the  same  word.  How  proud  they  all 
were  of  the  child's  robust  beauty  and  his  quick  intelligence, 
and,  what  the  grandfather  valued  above  all  virtues,  his  cour 
age.  One  scene  of  his  early  years  gave  Burr  inexpressible  de 
light  to  witness,  and,  in  after  times,  to  describe.  The  boy  was 
playing  alone  in  a  field,  with  a  stick  in  his  hand,  as  tall  as  him 
self,  while  his  parents  and  grandfather  were  looking  on  from  a 
distance.  Suddenly,  a  goat  that  was  grazing  near  the  child 
began  to  make  hostile  demonstrations,  lowering  his  head  and 
sideling  up  to  the  boy,  in  the  way  usual  with  irate  goats  before 
making  an  assault.  The  boy  was  evidently  frightened.  Still, 
he  faced  the  enemy.  The  goat  advanced  close  to  him,  when, 
just  as  the  animal  was  about  to  open  an  attack,  little  Gamp 
lifted  his  stick  with  a  mighty  effort,  and  brought  it  down 
whack  upon  the  goat's  head,  which  so  astonished  the  beast 
that  he  ran  away.  The  child  was  only  in  his  third  or  fourth 
year  when  this  occurred.  Words  can  not  express  the  rapture 
with  which  the  grandfather  saw  the  boy's  gallantry.  From 
that  hour  he  bore  him  in  his  heart  of  hearts,  and  loved  all  the 
children  in  the  world  better  for  this  one's  sake. 

To  add  to  his  good  fortune,  his  pecuniary  prospects  bright 
ened,  on  hi?  accession  to  office.  New  York  was  then  a  city 
of  65,000  inhabitants,  and  was  advancing  with  great  rapidity. 
Theodosia  herself  remarks,  in  one  of  her  letters,  that  "  in  ten 
or  twenty  years,  a  nundred  and  thirty  acres  of  land  on  New 
Sfork  Island  will  become  a  principality."  Colonel  Burr  owned 
a  large  tract  of  land  about  Richmond  Hill.  His  grounds  ex- 
»ended  to  the  North  River,  and,  nearer  the  city,  there  was  a 
pwKse  of  water  upon  his  estate  which,  elderly  inhabitants  mav  stil. 


THE     VICE-PRESIDENT.  301 

remember  as  the  favorite  skating-place  of  their  boyhood.  It 
was  called  "  Burr's  Pond"  years  after  it  ceased  to  be  his,  down 
even  to  the  time  when  it  was  filled  in,  and  built  over.  Thn 
progress  of  the  city  raised  the  value  of  all  the  land  on  the 
island,  and  particularly  of  that  which,  like  Richmond  Hill,  lay 
within  half-an-hour's  ride  of  the  city.  About  this  time,  Colonel 
Burr  was  much  occupied  with  negotiating  with  Mr.  John 
Jacob  Astor  for  the  sale  of  part  of  his  Richmond  Hill  estate. 
At  length,  Mr.  Astor  bought  all  but  the  mansion  and  a  few 
acres  around  it,  for  the  sum  of  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand 
dollars.  The  bargain,  for  some  reason,  was  afterward  can 
celed.  But,  finally,  the  sale  was  completed,  and  Colonel  Burr 
was,  for  the  time,  delivered  from  his  pecuniary  embarrass 
ments.  He  even  had  thoughts  of  buying  another  estate  fur 
ther  up  the  island.  It  is  evident  that  his  style  of  living  was 
such  as  was  then  supposed  to  become  an  elevated  station. 
Half  a  dozen  horses,  a  town-house  and  country-house,  a  nu 
merous  retinue  of  servants,  and  a  French  cook,  were  among 
the  sumptuosities  of  his  establishment.  Jerome  Bonaparte, 
then  on  the  eve  of  his  marriage  with  Miss  Patterson,  was  en 
tertained  at  dinner  and  at  breakfast  by  the  Yice-President, 
who  invited  large  companies  to  meet  the  future  monarch,  in 
vhose  ante-chambers  Burr  was,  one  day,  to  'kick  his  heels,  a 
suppliant  for  an  audience. 

Richmond  Hill  was  without  a  mistress.  In  these  fortunate 
years  it  was  that  Colonel  Burr  paid  his  court  to  one  of  the 
loveliest  of  Philadelphia's  ever  lovely  belles,  and  had  the  nar 
rowest  escape  from  a  second  marriage. 

They  met,  'twas  in  a  crowd ;  and  each  was  smitten  with 
the  other's  pleasant  qualities.  Again,  he  saw  her  at  her  father's 
table,  where  his  attentions  were  equally  pointed  and  welcome. 
A  tete-a-tete,  which  he  sought  was  interrupted  by  the  entrance 
of  lep&re,  but  her  manner  seemed  to  beckon  him  on.  He  was 
almost  in  love.  Summoning  her  father  to  his  apartments  by 
note,  and  the  old  gentleman  appearing  within  the  hour,  th«j 
enamored  one  came  to  the  point  with  a  promptness  and  sell 
possession  impossible  in  a  lover  under  forty. 

"  Is  Celeste  engaged  ?" 


302  LIFE     OF     AARON    BURR. 

"  She  is  not." 

"  Would  it  be  agreeable  to  her  parents  if  Colonel  Bun 
hould  make  overtures  for  her  hand  ?" 

"  It  would  be  most  agreeable." 

The  lady  had  gone  to  spend  some  days  six  miles  into  the 
Country,  and  thither  her  lover  rides  the  next  morning,  with 
in  eager,  but  composed  mind.  Celeste  enters  the  drawing- 
oom,  though  he  had  not  asked  especially  for  her.  Conversa 
tion  ensues.  She  is  all  wit  and  gayety  ;  more  charming  than 
ever,  the  lover  thinks.  '  He  tries  to  turn  the  conversation  to 
the  subject  nearest  his  heart ;  but  she,  with  the  good-humored 
graceful  malice  of  lovely  woman,  defeats  his  endeavors,  and 
so  at  last,  quite  captivated,  he  takes  his  leave. 

The  same  hour  on  the  following  morning  finds  him,  once 
more,  tete-d-tfae  with  the  beautiful  Celeste.  Conversation 
again.  But,  this  time,  the  great  question  was  put.  To  the 
surprise  of  this  renowned  lady-killer,  Celeste  replies  that  she 
is  firmly  resolved  never  to  marry  ! 

"  I  am  very  sorry  to  hear  it,  madam ;  I  had  promised  my 
self  great  happiness,  but  can  not  blame  your  determination." 

She  replied  :  "  No ;  certainly,  sir,  you  can  not ;  for  I  recol 
lect  to  have  heard  you  express  surprise  that  any  woman  should 
marry,  and  you  gave  such  reasons,  and  with  so  much  elo 
quence,  as  made  an  indelible  impression  on  my  mind. 

The  disappointed  swain  received  the  rebuff  with  perfect 
courtesy  and  good  humor.  They  parted  the  best  friends. 

"  Have  you  any  commands  to  town,  madam  ?  I  wish  you 
a  good  morning." 

Two  days  passed.  Then,  a  note  from  Celeste  surprised  the 
Rejected,  informing  him  that  she  was  in  town  for  a  few  hours, 
and  would  be  glad  to  see  him.  He  was  puzzled,  and  hastened 
to  her  for  a  solution.  The  interview  lasted  two  hours,  in  the 
course  of  which  the  tender  subject  was  daintily  touched,  but 
the  lover  forbore  to  renew  his  suit;  and  the  conversation 
ended  without  result.  Next  day,  another  note  from  the  lady, 
sent  in  from  the  country,  expressing  "  an  unalterable  determi 
nation  never  again  to  listen  to  his  suit,  and  requesting  that 
the  subject  might  never  be  renewed."  Late  in  the  evening 


THE     VICE-PKESIDENT.  303 

t>{  the  same  day,  on  returning  to  his  lodgings,  the  Vice-Presi 
dent  learned  that  a  boy  had  been  three  times  that  afternoon 
to  deliver  a  message  to  him,  but  had  refused  to  say  from 
whom  it  came.  At  last  Colonel  Burr's  servant  had  traced  the 
boy  to  the  town  residence  of  Celeste.  Early  next  morning  the 
message  came;  Celeste  requested  an  interview.  Post-haste 
the  Vice-President  hied  to  the  presence  of  his  beloved.  He 
found  her  engaged  with  a  visitor,  but  observed  that  she  was 
agitated  upon  his  entrance,  and  impatient  for  the  departure 
of  her  guest.  At  length  they  were  alone,  and  he  waited  for 
her  to  state  her  reasons  for  desiring  to  see  him.  With  ex 
treme  embarrassment,  she  stammered  out,  after  several  vain 
attempts  to  speak,  that  she  feared  her  note  had  not  been 
couched  in  terms  sufficiently  polite,  and  she  had  therefore 
wished  for  an  opportunity  to  apologize.  She  could  utter  no 
more.  He,  expecting  no  such  matter,  stared  in  dumb  aston 
ishment,  with  an  absurd  half-grin  upon  his  countenance.  Aa 
she  sat  deeply  engaged  in  tearing  to  pieces  some  roses,  and 
he  in  pinching  new*  corners  hi  the  rim  of  his  hat,  she  all 
blushes  and  confusion,  he  confounded  and  speechless,  the  pair, 
he  afterward  thought,  would  have  made  a  capital  subject  for 
a  painter.  He  was  the  first  to  recover  power  to  articulate. 
Denying  roundly  that  the  fatal  note  was  any  thing  but  polite 
and  proper,  he  offered  to  return  it,  proposed  that  it  should  be 
considered  canceled,  and  begged  to  be  allowed  to  call  the 
next  morning,  and  renew  his  suit.  To  this  she  objected, 
but  faintly.  Waiving  his  request  for  a  formal  permission, 
he  changed  the  subject,  and,  after  an  hour's  not  unpleasant 
conversation,  took  his  leave. 

He  now  confessed  to  Theodosia,  to  whom  the  affair  had 
been  circumstantially  related,  from  day  to  day,  that  he  was 
in  the  condition  of  a  certain  country  judge  before  whom  a 
cause  had  been  too  ingeniously  argued  by  the  lawyers.  "  Gen 
tlemen  of  the  jury,"  said  the  judge,  *  you  must  get  along  with 
Jhis  cause  as  well  as  you  can ;  for  my  part,  I'm  swamped." 
But  the  sapient  Theodosia  was  not  puzzled  in  the  least.  "  She 
meant,"  wrote  Theo.,  "  from  the  beginning  to  say  that  awful 
word,  yes ;  but  not  choosing  to  say  it  immediately,  she  told 


304  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

you  that  you  had  furnished  her  with  arguments  against  matri 
mony,  which  in  French  means,  Please,  sir,  to  persuade  me  out 
of  them  again.  But  you  took  it  as  a  plump  refusal,  and  walked 
off.  She  called  you  back.  What  more  could  she  do  ?  I 
would  have  seen  you  to  Japan  before  I  should  have  done  so 
much." 

However,  the  offer  of  marriage  was  never  renewed.  The 
lover  was  probably  himself  undecided  as  to  the  desirableness 
of  the  match.  But  between  him  and  Celeste  there  was  always 
a  tender  friendship,  and  for  many  months  it  seemed  likely 
enough  that  at  some  unexpected  moment  the  conclusive  word 
would  be  spoken. 

To  complete  his  good  fortune,  he  began  his  official  life  a 
very  popular  man.  He  was  popular  with  his  party  for  giving 
it  victory.  He  was  admired  by  vast  numbers  of  honorable 
men,  because  he  had  disdained  to  seek  his  own  elevation  by 
defeating  the  will  of  a  majority  of  his  countrymen.  The 
eclat  of  office  was  added  to  his  reputation  as  a  soldier  and  as 
a  politician  ;  and  he,  of  all  men,  seemed  to  be  the  one  most 
likely  soon  to  have  at  his  disposal  the  favors  which  a  President 
can  confer.  There  chanced  to  be  in  1801,  before  the  Vice- 
President  had  yet  presided  over  the  Senate,  a  convention  in 
the  State  of  New  York  to  make  certain  amendments  to  the 
Constitution.  Upon  the  meeting  of  the  convention  the  Vice- 
President  was  made  chairman  by  a  unanimous  vote. 

Up  to  this  time,  Aaron  Burr  had  known  little  but  good  for 
tune.  He  had  been  a  successful  soldier,  a  more  successful 
lawyer,  a  most  successful  politician.  Fortunate  and  happy  in 
his  domestic  relations,  he  was  strengthened  now  by  the  alliance 
of  his  daughter  with  an  ancient  and  wealthy  family.  His  own 
estate  was  ample  and  improving.  His  rival  and  enemy  was 
distanced.  Still  in  the  very  prime  of  his  days,  there  was  but 
one  more  honorable  distinction  for  him  to  gain,  and  that 
seemed  almost  within  his  grasp.  High  in  the  esteem  of  his 
own  party,  he  enjoyed  also  the  general  respect  of  the  Fede 
ralists,  as  being  a  more  moderate  partisan  than  other  leading 
Republicans. 

Such  was  the  position  of  Aaron  Burr  in  the  year  1801. 


CHAPTER    XVIII 


CLOUDS    GATHKE. 

rm  &BEAT  ESROE  OF  BURR'S  PUBLIC  LtFB  —  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  SPOILS  —  C/HBET 
HAM  AND  THE  AMERICAN  ClTIZEN —  BURR'S  COURSE  ON  THE  JUDICIARY  BlLL — TH1 
SUPPRESSED  HISTORY  OF  ADAMS'S  ADMINISTRATION  —  HAMILTON'S  MORBID  APPBB- 

HEN8ION8  — BURR   AT  THB    WASHINGTON    BANQUET  —  HAMILTON'S    NEW    TACTICS  — 

CHBETHAM'S  CALUMNIES  —  THEIR  KEFUTATION  —  THE  WAR  OF  PAMPHLETS  AND 
NEWSPAPERS  —  DUELING  THEN  —  HAMILTON'S  ELDEST  SON  FALLS  IN  A  DUEL  — 
DUEL  BETWEEN  JOHN  SWARTWOUT  AND  DB  WITT  CLINTON  —  EGBERT  SWARTWOUT 
AND  RICHARD  RIKER'B  DUEL  — DUEL  BETWEEN  COLEMAN  AND  CAPTAIN  THOMPSON 
—BURR  R[7N8  FOR  GOVERNOR  OF  NEW  YORK  —  THE  CONTEST  —  BURR  DEFEATED. 

Bur  Fortune  was  now  tired  of  befriending  this  man.  His 
position  was  imposing,  but  hollow.  As  a  politician,  he  never 
had  any  real  basis ;  such  as  great  ideas,  strong  convictions, 
important  original  measures,  a  grand  policy ;  nor  were  his  pe 
culiar  gifts  of  a  nature  to  charm  the  multitude. 

Aaron  Burr  should  never  have  touched  politics.  He  had  no 
business  with  politics.  Having  made  up  his  mind  at  old  Dr, 
Bellamy's,  that  Honor  was  the  god  for  a  gentleman,  and  that 
Chesterfield  was  one  of  his  prophets,  he  should  have  been  con 
tent  to  practice  law,  get  a  fortune,  shine  in  society,  make  the 
tour  of  Europe,  patronize  the  fine  arts,  give  elegant  dinners  j 
and  so  have  been  the  inane  and  aimless  individual  that  the 
rich  American,  since  the  Revolution,  has  usually  plumed  him 
self  upon  being.  Or,  he  should  have  emigrated  to  France, 
In  soldiers,  Frenchmen,  and  children,  ambition  is  a  nearly  in- 
evitable  incentive  to  exertion,  and  therefore  pardonable.  But 
for  the  citizen  of  a  free  State  to  seek  or  accept  high  public 
office  for  any  smaller  object  than  the  public  good,  is  not 
pardonable,  but  pitiable.  The  fatal  day  in  the  life  of  Aaron 
Burr  was  not  on  which  he  and  his  amiable  foe  both  fell  on  the 
field  of  honor,  never  to  rise,  but  on  that  on  which  he  resolved, 
for  party  and  personal  reasons  chiefly,  to  turn  politician. 


306  LIFE     OP     AAEON     BUKE. 

Accursed  be  Politics  for  ever !  The  madlstrom  that  has 
drawn  in  and  engulfed  so  many  able  and  worthy  men.  What 
talent  it  absorbs  that  is  so  needed  elsewhere !  How  many 
"air  reputations  it  has  blasted !  What  toil,  what  ingenuity, 
what  wealth,  what  lives  have  been  wasted  upon  it !  How 
lean  are  political  methods  and  expedients,  and  how  absurdly 
lisproportioned  are  political  triumphs  to  their  cost !  Politics 
can  never  be  reformed.  To  abolish  politics  altogether  is  perhaps 
the  atonement  America  is  going,  one  day,  to  make  to  an  out 
raged  world,  for  sinking  to  the  deepest  deep,  and  wallowing 
in  the  filthiest  filth  of  political  turpitude. 

Colonel  Burr  was  now  in  several  people's  way,  and  meas 
ures  were  to  be  adopted  to  get  him  out  of  the  way. 

While  a  party  is  in  opposition,  any  body  who  can  help  is 
welcome,  and,  if  possible,  rewarded.  But  when  that  party 
gets  into  power,  and  has  all  the  great  prizes  to  bestow ;  when 
a  party  nomination  is  equivalent  to  election  ;  and  when,  above 
all,  no  man's  help  is  felt  to  be  necessary  /  the  claims  of  the 
leading  partizans  are  apt  to  be  more  closely  scrutinized,  and 
the  force  hitherto  expended  in  securing  triumph  for  the  party, 
is  devoted  to  gaining  supremacy  for  the  clique ! 

Colonel  Burr  was  not  the  man  that  Thomas  Jefferson  and 
the  Virginia  politicians  wanted  to  be  the  next  democratic 
President.  James  Madison,  then  Secretary  of  State,  and  a 
man  of  immense  family  interest  in  Virginia,  was  the  predes 
tined  candidate  of  the  southern  Republicans.  Madison  was 
Jefferson's  neighbor,  friend,  an.!  disciple.  In  New  York,  the 
Republican  party,  composed  of  three  factions  —  Clintons,  Liv 
ingstons,  and  Burrites  —  had  been  kept  together  by  Colonel 
Burr's  masterly  management  while  there  was  a  Federal  party 
to  be  vanquished ;  but  now  that  the  victory  was  won,  the  ele 
ments  of  discord  so  long  latent,  burst  into  vigorous  life.  The 
Republican  party  of  the  State  of  New  York  was  a  unit  no 
longer.  Each  of  the  three  factions  was  jealous  of  the  others, 
and  aspired  to  sway  the  party.  Sut,  for  the  present,  the  Clin 
tons  and  the  Livingstons  were  disposed  to  unite  their  forces 
for  the  purpose  of  destroying  Burr  and  his  band  of  followers, 
Thus  against  our  hero  and  his  "  myrmidons,"  three  great  pow 


CLOUDS     GATHER.  30' 

ers  were  soon  to  be  secretly  or  openly  leagued ;  namely,  first, 
the  Virginia  politicians,  one  of  whom  wielded  the  patronage 
of  the  Federal  government ;  secondly,  the  Clintons,  one  of 
whom  was  Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York,  while  young 
De  Witt  Clinton  was  a  member  of  the  United  States  Senate  ; 
and,  lastly,  the  numerous  and  wealthy  family  of  the  Living 
stons.  Each  of  these  had  darling  objects,  to  the  attainment 
of  which  Colonel  Burr's  present  commanding  position  and 
peculiar  powers  were  the  chief  obstacle. 

Down  with  the  interloper,  was  now  the  whisper  that  circu 
lated  among  the  magnates  of  the  party,  both  at  Washington 
and  at  Albany 

In  the  distribution  of  the  "  spoils"  of  victory,  many  import 
ant  friends  of  Colonel  Burr  were  passed  by,  while  the  mem 
bers  and  adherents  of  the  two  great  families  were  loaded  with 
favor.  Edward  Livingston  was  appointed  mayor  of  the  city, 
Chancellor  Livingston  went  embassador  to  France.  Brockholst 
Livingston  and  Smith  Thompson,  whose  wife  was  a  Living 
ston,  were  elevated  to  the  bench  of  the  State  Supreme  Court. 
Morgan  Lewis,  Dr.  Tillotson,  and  General  Armstrong,  all  con 
nected  by  marriage  with  the  same  family,  were  well  provided 
for.  George  Clinton  was  governor,  De  Witt  Clinton  was  in 
the  Senate.  A  large  proportion  of  the  minor  city  offices  were 
given  to  Clintonians.  The  Federal  offices,  too,  were  bestowed 
in  accordance  with  the  same  general  plan  of  excluding  the 
friends  of  Burr.  Soon,  Colonel  Burr  and  John  Swartwout, 
through  Clintonian  influence,  lost  their  seats,  after  a  hotly-con 
tested  election,  as  directors  of  the  Manhattan  Bank  ;  and  the 
influence  and  power  of  that  institution  were  used  against  the 
man  to  whom  it  owed  its  existence. 

It  soon  became  apparent  that  the  American  Citizen,  the 
<>rgan  of  the  Republican  party  in  the  city,  owned  by  a  cousin 
cf  De  Witt  Clinton's,  was  conducted  wholly  in  the  interest  of 
:hat  politician.  It  was  edited  by  a  scurrilous  dog  of  an  En 
glishman,  named  Cheethama  who  began  life  as  a  hatter,  and 
who  knew  as  much  of  American  politics  as  De  Witt  Clinton 
chose  to  tell  him.  This  Cheetham  fancied  he  had  a  talent  for 
aivective,  and,  nothing  pleased  him  better  than  to  make  a 


308  LIFE     OP     AARON     BURR 

set-attack  on  some  public  character,  in  what  he  supposed  to 
be  the  manner  of  Junius.  Hamilton,  too,  had  an  organ,  the 
newly-established  Evening  Post,  edited  by  William  Cbleman, 
a  lawyer,  a  good  writer,  and  a  gentleman. 

In  these  circumstances,  the  friends  of  Burr,  in  the  summei 
of  1802,  assisted  to  establish  the  Morning  Chronicle,  which 
supported  the  administration,  but  was  especially  friendly  to  the 
Vice-President.  This  Morning  Chronicle  ceased,  long  ago,  to 
exist,  but  its  name,  through  a  happy  accident,  will  be  remem 
bered  for  many  generations  to  come.  It  was  edited  by  Dr. 
Peter  Irving,  and,  in  its  columns,  a  younger  brother  of  the 
editor,  WASHINGTON  IRVING,  first  appeared  as  a  writer  for  the 
public.  Mr.  Irving  was  a  youth  of  nineteen  when  Colonel 
Burr  used  to  cut  out  his  Jonathan  Oldstyle  essays  from  the 
Chronicle,  and  inclose  them  in  his  letters  to  Theodosia,  with 
the  remark  that  they  were  very  good  for  so  young  a  man. 
He  was  fortunate  in  having  such  a  contributor.  But  Burr 
needed  a  fighting  newspaper.  Dr.  Irving,  in  contending  with 
such  a  fellow  as  Cheetham,  labored  under  the  crushing  disad 
vantage  of  being  a  gentleman  and  a  scholar. 

Thus  the  weapons  of  warfare  were  .prepared.  Colonel  Burr 
soon  gave  dog  Cheetham  an  opportunity  to  howl  the  alarm. 

On  his  way  to  the  seat  of  government,  in  the  autumn  of 
1801,  to  take  his  seat  in  the  chair  of  the  Senate,  the  Vice- 
President  received  from  certain  citizens  of  Baltimore  one  of 
those  adulatory  addresses  of  which  Mr.  Adams  was  so  fond, 
and  which  it  had  been  a  specialty  of  the  Republican  party  to 
denounce  and  ridicule.  To  this  address  Colonel  Burr  re 
sponded  thus :  "  Time  will  not  allow  me  to  return  a  written 
answer,  but  I  must  be  permitted  to  state  my  disapprobation 
of  the  mode  of  expressing  public  sentiment  by  addresses." 
This  answer  was  in  the  strictest  accordance  with  the  Repul> 
lican  feeling  of  the  time.  But  it  was  needlessly  abrupt,  and 
gave  offense  to  many.  It  savored  of  Federal  haughtiness, 
thought  some,  and  was  unbecoming  a  public  servant.  But 
this  was  a  trifle. 

The  great  measure  of  the  session  was  the  repeal  of  a  jud* 
siary  bill,  which  passed  at  the  close  of  the  last  Congress,  by 


CLOUDS     GATHER.  309 

which  the  number  of  Federal  judges  was  increased  by  twenty- 
three.  This  bill  had  been  passed  by  a  party  vote,  the  Re 
publicans  going  against  it  in  a  body.  But  what  made  it 
inexpressibly  odious  to  the  new  administration,  and  to  the 
Republican  party,  was  the  indecent  haste  with  which  Mr. 
Adams,  in  the  very  last  hour  of  his  presidency,  had  appointed 
the  new  judges.  These  were  the  "midnight  appointments" 
of  which  Mr.  Jefferson  so  wrathfully  spoke  in  a  letter  pre 
viously  quoted,  and  which  were  the  more  offensive  as  the 
judges  were  appointed  for  life.  What  President,  what  party, 
could  see,  without  disgust,  twenty-three  keenly-coveted  life- 
judgeships,  stolen,  as  it  were,  from  the  hard-won  "spoils"  of 
victory  ?  Twenty-three  such  offices,  skillfully  bestowed,  were 
a  reserve  of  political  capital  that  would  suffice,  alone,  to  turn 
the  scale  in  a  close  contest,  whether  in  caucus  or  at  the  polls. 
Enough.  The  party  was  resolved  on  repealing  the  bill,  and 
thus  annihilating  the  judgeships  which  it  created,  This  was 
done,  but  only  after  a  long  period  of  exciting  and  acrimonious 
debate,  during  which  the  Vice-President,  by  the  utter  impar 
tiality  of  his  conduct,  gave  offense  to  both  parties. 

The  Senate  was  nearly  tied  on  the  question,  and  thus  it 
happened  that  at  a  certain  stage  of  the  bill  the  Vice-President 
had  to  give  a  casting  vote.  On  a  motion  to  refer  the  bill  to  a 
committee  for  amendment,  the  vote  was  fourteen  to  fourteen, 
the  Federalists  favoring  the  reference.  The  Yice-President 
said : 

"  I  am  for  the  affirmative,  because  I  never  can  resist  the 
reference  of  a  measure  where  the  Senate  is  so  nicely  balanced, 
and  when  the  object  is  to  effect  amendment  that  may  accom 
modate  it  to  the  opinions  of  a  large  majority,  and  particularly 
when  I  can  believe  that  gentlemen  are  sincere  in  wishing  a 
reference  for  this  purpose.  Should  it,  however,  at  any  time 
appear  that  delay  only  is  intended,  my  conduct  will  be  differ- 
ant." 

This  vote  produced  a  "  sensation."  The  ultra  Republicans 
condemned  it,  of  course ;  and  Cheetham  made  it  the  object 
of  vituperatk  n.  The  ultra  Federalists  rejoiced  over  it.  Mod 
»rate  men  of  all  parties  saw  in  it  the  simple  discharge  of  ao 


310  LIFE     OF     AAEON    BTJKB. 

I 

obvious  duty.  As  it  happened,  however,  the  vote  had  no  re 
sults,  for  the  arrival  of  a  Senator,  a  day  or  two  after,  restored 
the  Republican  majority,  and  the  bill  was  taken  out  of  com' 
mittee  forthwith. 

At  other  stages  of  the  bill,  the  Vice-President's  course  waa 
severely  disappointing  to  the  Federalists.  On  this  point  we 
have  the  unequaled  authority  of  Gouveneur  Morris,  who,  aa 
a  Federal  Senator,  fought  for  the  preservation  of  the  judge- 
ships  with  all  the  energy  of  honest  and  disinterested  convic 
tion.  He  believed  the  nation  would  be  disgraced  by  depriv 
ing  men  of  offices  which  the  Constitution  gave  them  for  life, 
and  which  they  had  accepted  on  that  condition.  Gouveneur 
Morris,  when  all  was  over,  wrote  thus  to  his  friend,  Chancellor 
Livingston  :  "  There  was  a  moment  when  the  Vice-President 
might  have  arrested  the  measure  by  his  vote,  and  that  vote 
would,  I  believe,  have  made  him  President  at  the  next  elec 
tion  ;  but  '  there  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men,'  which  he  suf 
fered  to  go  by." 

This  reserve  of  power  on  the  part  of  Colonel  Burr  was  the 
more  creditable  to  him  from  the  fact  that  he  was  rather  op 
posed  to  the  repeal  than  otherwise.  It  is  evident  from  his 
correspondence  at  the  time,  that  he  made  the  legality  of  the 
repeal  a  special  subject  of  investigation,  and,  according  to  his 
wont,  of  consultation  with  the  eminent  lawyers  of  his  ac 
quaintance.  To  Barnabas  Bidwell,  he  writes:  "The  power 
thus  to  deprive  judges  of  their  offices  and  salaries  must  be  ad 
mitted  ;  but  whether  it  would  be  constitutionally  moral,  if  I 
may  use  the  expression,  and,  if  so,  whether  it  would  be  politic 
und  expedient,  are  questions  on  which  I  could  wish  to  be 
Virther  advised.  Your  opinion  on  these  points  would  be  par 
ticularly  acceptable." 

To  his  son-in-law  he  expresses  the  same  doubts,  and  adds 
"  Read  the  Constitution,  and  having  informed  yourself  of  the 
out-of-door  talk,  write  me  how  you  view  the  thing."  Mr.  A, 
JT.  Dallas  of  Pennsylvania,  a  zealous  and  able  Democrat,  gave 
the  Vice-President  a  decided  opinion  against  the  repeal  of  the 
bill,  and  in  favor  of  amending  it.  Jefferson,  it  appears,  took 
*bout  the  same  view  of  the  repeal  as  Burr,  and,  as  the  Vice 


CLOUDS     GA.THEB.  311 

President  forbore  to  defeat  it  by  his  casting  vote,  the  Presi 
dent  refrained  from  killing  it  by  his  veto. 

Before  Cheetham  had  done  ringing  the  changes  on  the 
Vice-President's  alleged  inconsistency  on  the  judiciary  bill, 
Colonel  Burr  gave  him  another  subject  upon  which  to  exercise 
his  talents. 

A  certain  John  Wood,  of  New  York,  toward  the  close  of 
the  year  1801,  sent  to  press  a  voluminous  pamphlet,  entitled, 
"  A  History  of  the  Administration  of  John  Adams."  Stupid 
ity,  Ignorance,  and  Falsehood  combined  their  several  powers 
in  the  production  of  this  indigested  mass  of  tedious  lies.  It 
was  a  sort  of  "  campaign  life"  reversed ;  that  is,  instead  of 
being  all  puff,  it  was  all  slander  or  misrepresentation.  One 
sentence  from  this  precious  work  will  suffice  to  give  the  reader 
an  idea  of  its  character,  and  of  the  good  it  was  likely  to  do  to 
the  Republican  cause.  After  berating  John  Adams  for  many 
a  weary  page,  Mr.  Wood  proceeded  to  inquire  why  it  was 
that  Connecticut  should  have  been  so  persistent  and  unani 
mous  in  support  of  such  a  madman.  This,  he  says,  naturallj 
excrces  our  wonder  and  astonishment.  "  But  the  surprise  oi 
the  reader  will  vanish  when  he  is  informed  that  in  no  part  of 
the  world  the  bigotry  of  priesthood  reigns  so  triumphant,  and 
that  the  dark  shades  of  superstition  nowhere  cloud  the  un 
derstanding  of  man  in  such  a  degree,  as  among  the  unhappy 
natives  of  Connecticut." 

The  volume  contained  labored  eulogies  of  Jefferson  and 
Burr.  The  puff  of  the  Yice-President  concluded  with  these1 
words  :  "  It  is  impossible  to  draw  a  character  of  Colonel  Burr 
in  more  applicable  and  expressive  terms  than  Governor  Liv 
ingston  has  done  of  his  father  :  'Though  a  person  of  a  slender 
and  delicate  make,  to  encounter  fatigue  he  has  a  heart  of  steel ; 
and  for  the  dispatch  of  business,  the  most  amazing  talent? 
joined  to  a  constancy  of  mind  that  insures  success  in  spite  of 
every  obstacle.  As  long  as  an  enterprise  appears  not  abso- 
•utely  impossible,  he  knows  no  discouragement,  but,  in  pro 
portion  to  its  difficulty,  augments  his  diligence  ;  and  by  an  in 
superable  fortitude,  frequently  accomplishes  what  his  friendf 
wad  acquaintances  conceived  atterly  impracticable.'  " 


512  LIFE     OP     AARON     BUBK. 

Colonel  Burr  read  this  work  in  the  sheets.  He  saw  at  one 
glance  that  its  publication  would  do  the  Republican  party 
harm  instead  of  good ;  particularly  in  New  England,  where 
he  was  most  of  all  solicitous  to  gain  adherents.  He  began, 
by  this  time,  to  understand  that  his  future,  as  a  politician, 
depended  upon  the  Republican  party's  gaining  such  an  in 
crease  of  strength  in  New  England  as  to  counterbalance  the 
undue  influence  of  Virginia.  With  his  usual  promptness,  but 
not  with  his  usual  completeness  of  success,  he  attempted  to 
suppress  the  book.  Twelve  hundred  and  fifty  copies  had  been 
printed.  He  agreed  with  author  and  publisher  to  pay  a  cer- 
•  tain  sum,  on  condition  that  the  whole  edition  should  be 
burned  and  the  secret  kept.  Before  the  bargain  was  consum 
mated,  however,  it  was  ascertained  that  information  of  the  ne 
gotiation  had  been  given  to  Duane,  of  the  Philadelphia  Au 
rora,  and  to  cur  Cheetham,  of  the  New  York  Citizen,  and  that 
certain  copies  had  been  handed  about.  As  one  of  the  pub 
lishers  of  the  book  had  been  tutor  in  General  Hamilton's  fam 
ily,  it  may  be  that  in  this  affair  Hamilton  repaid  Burr,  in  kind, 
for  his  maneuvers  in  1800.*  Be  that  as  it  may,  Burr  refused 
to  pay  for  the  edition,  and  let  the  matter  take  its  course. 

Cheetham,  first  by  hints  and  innuendoes,  then  by  broad  and 
reiterated  assertion,  assailed  the  Vice-President,  maintaining 
that  he  had  attempted  to  suppress  the  book  for  the  sake  of 
shielding  his  new  friends,  the  Federalists,  from  tie  just  odium 
which  its  general  circulation  would  have  excited.  Here  was 
another  proof,  said  Cheetham,  if  other  proof  were  needed,  of 
the  faithlessness  of  the  Vice-President  to  his  party,  etc.,  etc. 
I>uane,  of  the  more  decent  Aurora,  joined  at  last  in  the  cry, 
.hough,  at  the  time,  he  had  approved  of  the  suppression,  as  a 
letter  of  his  to  Colonel  Burr  still  shows.  His  letter,  dated 
April  15,  says  it  was  fortunate  Wood's  pamphlet  had  not  ap 
peared,  and  it  would  be  still  more  fortunate  if  it  should  never 
appear.  His  paper  of  July  12th  expresses  the  opinion  that  if 
the  motives  for  the  suppression  of  the  book  were  not  satisfao- 

*  Hamilton  had  no  objection  to  a  publication  which  tended  to  justify  hi 
owii  opposition  to  Adams.  When,  soon  after,  "Wood  got  into  prison  for  debt 
ue  was  released  by  Coleman,  the  editor  of  Hamilton's  organ 


CLOUDS     GATHER.  313 

eorily  explained  to  the  public,  Colonel  Burr's  standing  with 
the  Republican  interest  was  gone. 

No  explanation  at  all  was  vouchsafed  to  a  credulous  public 
Burr  was  careless  of  public  opinion  to  a  remarkable  degree, 
and  he  was  full  of  that  pride,  so  common  in  his  day,  which 
disdains  to  notice  newspaper  comment,  or  any  other  form  of 
popular  clamor.  One  of  the  maxims  which  he  used  to  recom 
mend  to  his  proteges  was,  never  to  apologize  for  or  explain 
away  a  public  action  which  might  be  disapproved,  but  let  its 
results  speak.  Once,  after  reproving  his  daughter  for  some 
slight  neglect,  he  adds,  "  No  apologies  or  explanations  —  I 
hate  them."  Alluding  to  one  of  Cheetham's  lies,  he  wrote  to 
Theodosia :  "  They  are  so  utterly  lost  on  me  that  I  should 
ttever  have  seen  even  this,  but  that  it  came  inclosed  to  me  in 
a  letter  from  New  York."  In  another  letter  he  speaks  of 
"  some  new  and  amusing  libels  against  the  Vice-President," 
which  he  had  thought  of  sending  her.  This  is,  doubtless,  the 
right  temper  for  a  man  who  has  no  favors  to  ask  of  the  public ; 
but  to  one  whose  career  in  life  absolutely  depends  upon  the 
multitude's  sweet  voices,  it  will  certainly,  sooner  or  later 
prove  fatal.  Besides,  it  was  only  this  summer  that  Dr.  Irving 
had  got  his  Morning  Chronicle  fairly  under  way,  and  by  that 
time  Cheetham's  calumnies  had  struck  in  past  eradication. 

But  these  were  only  preliminary  scandals.  The  main  at 
tack  was  to  come.  Before  proceeding  to  that,  however,  let 
us  see  what  new  gorgons  the  Vice-President's  conduct  was 
conjuring  up  in  the  morbid  mind  of  Hamilton. 

The  celebration  of  Washington's  birth-day  was  then  more  a 
party  than  a  national  custom,  and  one  which  the  Federalists 
were  not  likely  to  neglect  in  the  first  year  of  a  Republican 
administration.  The  usual  banquet  was  held  at  Washington. 
A  few  days  after,  the  rumor  circulated  in  New  York  that  the 
Vice-President  had  actually  been  present  at  that  festival,  and 
given  a  toast.  "  We  are  told  here,"  wrote  Hamilton  to  Bay 
ard,  "  that  at  the  close  of  your  birth-day  feast,  a  strange  ap 
parition^  wrhich  was  taken  for  the  Vice-President,  appeared 
among  you,  and  toasted  'the  union  of  all  honest  men.'  I 
citen  hear  at  the  corner  of  the  streets  important  Federal  st> 

14 


314  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

\ 

crets  of  which  I  am  ignorant.  This  may  be  one.  If  the 
story  is  true,  'tis  a  good  thing  if  we  use  it  well.  As  an  in* 
strument,  the  person  will  be  an  auxiliary  of  some  value  ;  as  a 
chief,  he  will  disgrace  and  destroy  the  party.  I  suspect,  how- 
ever,  the  folly  of  the  mass  will  make  him  the  latter,  and  from 
the  moment  it  shall  appear  that  this  is  the  plan,  it  may  be  de 
pended  upon,  much  more  will  be  lost  than  gained.  I  know 
of  no  important  character  who  has  a  less  founded  interest  than 
the  man  in  question.  His  talents  may  do  well  enough  for  a 
particular  plot,  but  they  are  ill-suited  for  a  great  and  wise 
drama.  But  what  has  wisdom  to  do  with  weak  men  ?" 

That  remark  about  Burr's  talents  being  better  adapted  to  a 
particular  plot,  than  to  a  "  great  and  wise  drama,"  is  one  of  the 
truest  ever  made  by  Hamilton  of  his  antagonist. 

To  Gouveneur  Morris,  Hamilton  writes  in  a  similar  strain. 
He  fears  that  some  new  intrigue  is  hatching  between  Burr  and 
the  Federalists.  If  not,  what  meant  the  "  apparition  ?"  He 
adds,  that  if  Burr  should  form  a  third  party,  u  we  may  think 
it  worth  while  to  purchase  him  with  his  flying  squadrons?- 
Hamilton's  main  idea  was :  Let  us  use  Burr  as  a  means  of  out 
elevation,  not  let  him  use  us  as  a  means  of  his  own.  • 

It  was  again  the  sensible  Mr.  Bayard's  privilege  to  allay 
Hamilton's  apprehensions.  In  reply  to  the  latter's  "  appari- 
tion"  letter,  he  wrote  as  follows :  "  The  apprehensions  you 
appear  to  entertain  of  the  effect  of  the  intrigues  of  a  certain 
person,  if  you  will  take  my  word  for  it,  are  wholly  without 
ground.  In  fact,  little  has  been  attempted  and  nothing  ac 
complished.  I  answer  only  for  the  time  present,  because  I 
believe  the  gentleman  is  waiting  to  see  the  result  of  the  new 
state  of  things  more  completely  developed  before  he  decide 
upon  the  course  he  will  pursue.  The  apparition  in  the  after 
piece  was  not  unexpected,  but  the  toast  was. 

"  An  intimation  was  given  that,  if  he  was  sensible  of  no 
.mpropriety  in  being  our  guest  upon  the  occasion,  his  com- 
oany  would  be  very  acceptable ;  our  calculation  was  that  he 
had  less  chance  of  gaining  than  losing  by  accepting  the  invi- 
Nation.  We  knew  the  impression  which  the  coincidence  of  cir 
tumstances  wculd  make  on  a  certain  .great  personage^  ho\» 


CLOUDS     GATHER.  31fi 

readily  that  impression  would  be  communicated  to  the  proud 
and  aspiring  lords  of  the  ancient  dominion,  and  we  have  not 
been  mistaken  as  to  the  jealousy  we  expected  it  would  excite 
through  the  party. 

"  Be  assured,  the  apparition  was  much  less  frightful  to  those 
who  saw  it  than  to  many  who  heard  of  the  place  where  it  ap 
peared.  The  toast  was  indiscreet,  and  extremely  well  calcu 
lated  to  answer  our  views.  It  will  not  be  an  easy  task  to  im 
pose  upon  the  Federalists  here,  united  and  communicative  as 
they  are  at  present ;  and  you  may  rely,  that  no  eagerness  to 
recover  lost  power  will  betray  them  into  any  doctrines  or  com 
promises  repugnant  or  dangerous  to  their  former  principles. 
We  shall  probably  pay  more  attention  to  public  opinion  than 
we  have  hitherto  done,  and  take  more  pains  not  merely  to  do 
right  things,  but  to  do  them  in  an  acceptable  manner." 

That  such  a  pother  should  arise  from  a  Yice-President  of 
the  United  States  attending  a  banquet  in  honor  of  George 
Washington,  gives  the  modern  reader  an  idea  of  the  reality 
of  the  political  differences  of  that  day,  which  we  can  the  bet 
ter  understand  from  the  fact,  that  such  differences  are  again 
becoming  real.  Colonel  Burr  had  a  reason  for  attending  thia 
banquet  of  a  personal  kind.  The  Federal  members  of  the 
House  who  gave  the  banquet,  and  who  invited  the  Vice-Pres- 
ident  to  attend  it,  were  the  very  men  who,  a  year  ago,  had 
sat  a  week  trying  to  make  him  President.  Who  was  the  in 
triguer  in  this  business,  Bayard  or  Burr  ? 

Hamilton's  rejoinder  to  Bayard,  is  one  of  the  most  charac 
teristic  epistles  he  ever  wrote.  It  is  eminently  amiable  and 
absurd.  Ho  says  that  Bayard's  explanation  has  allayed  his 
fear.  He  then  proceeds  to  divulge  an  elaborate  plan  for  bring 
ing  the  country  back  again  to  its  former  Federal  principles. 
We  must  change  our  tactics,  he  begins.  We  have  relied 
too  much  upon  the  mere  excellence  of  our  measures.  Men 
are  reasoning,  but  not  reasonable  creatures.  While  we  have 
appealed  solely  to  the  reason,  our  opponents  have  flattered  the 
vanity  of  the  people,  and  the  consequence  is  we  are  prostrate, 
and  they  are  triumphant.  We  must  be  more  politic,  my  dear 
idr.  Nothing  wrong  must  be  dune,  of  course;  but  we  must 


816  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BUKB. 

meet  art  with  art,  and  defeat  trick  with  trick;  that  is,  as  far 
as  we  can  do  so  innocently.  After  a  prologue  of  this  de- 
cription,  comes  the  play.  He  suggests  the  formation  of  a 
"  Christian  Constitutional  Society,"  with  a  president  and  coun- 
oil  of  twelve  at  Washington,  a  vice-president  and  sub-council 
of  twelve  in  each  State,  and  as  many  local  branches  as  may  be 
necessary.  The  object  of  this  grand  association  was  to  be, 
ostensibly,  first,  the  support  of  the  Christian  religion ;  sec 
ondly,  the  support  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
The  real  object,  of  course,  was  to  turn  out  the  vulgar,  odious 
"  Jacobins,"  and  raise  to  power  once  more  the  virtuous  and 
polite  Federalists.  This  was  to  be  done  by  diffusing  informa 
tion,  by  getting  good  men  elected  to  office,  and  by  promoting 
charitable  institutions,  particularly  in  cities.  As  a  proof  how 
much  the  cities  needed  looking  after,  Hamilton  revives  the 
story  of  the  plot  which  was  said  to  have  been  formed,  during 
the  presidential  suspense  of  1801,  to  seize  and  "cut  off"  the 
leading  Federalists. 

This  reads  very  much  like  imbecility.  One  would  have 
supposed  the  Federalists  had  had  enough  of  secret  societies, 
in  their  early  experiences  with  regard  to  the  Cincinnati.  And 
how  Hamilton  had  denounced  the  American  imitations  of  the 
French  Jacobin  clubs  !  Bayard  set  him  right  once  more,  by 
telling  him  decidedly  that  his  Club  scheme  would  not  do. 
Let  us  wait,  said  Bayard,  and  the  enemy  will  soon  show  the 
country  that  we  are  the  party  to  give  it  prosperity. 

The  country,  meanwhile,  was  obstinately  prosperous,  and 
unreasonably  peaceful,  and  madly  confident  of  the  ability  and 
patriotism  of  the  administration.  But  there  was  a  gleam  of 
hope  for  the  Federalists  still.  In  the  summer  of  1802,  a  rumor 
was  flying  about  among  them  that  there  was  division  in  the 
enemy's  camp ;  the  President  and  Vice-President  had  quar 
reled  !  In  June,  Hamilton  writes  a  doleful  letter  to  Rufus 
King  about  affairs  political,  which  thus  concludes  : 

"  There  is,  however,  a  circumstance  which  may  accelerate 
the  fall  of  the  present  party.  There  is  certainly  a  most  serious 
schism  between  the  chief  and  his  heir-apparent ;  a  schism 
absolutely  incurable,  because  founded  in  the  hearts  of  b^ttuifc 


CLOUDS     GATHEE.  317 

the  rivalship  of  an  insatiable  and  unprincipled  ambition.  The 
effects  are  already  apparent,  and  are  ripening  into  a  more  bit 
ter  animosity  between  the  partizans  of  the  two  men  than  ever 
existed  between  the  Federalists  and  anti-Federalists. 

"  Unluckily,  we  are  not  as  neutral  to  this  quarrel  as  we 
ought  to  be.  You  saw,  however,  how  far  our  friends  in  Con 
gress  went  in  polluting  themselves  with  the  support  of  the 
second  personage  for  the  presidency.  The  cabal  did  not  ter 
minate  there.  Several  men,  of  no  inconsiderable  importance 
among  us,  like  the  enterprising  and  adventurous  character  of 
this  man,  and  hope  to  soar  with  him  into  power.  Many  more, 
through  hatred  to  the  chief,  and  through  an  impatience  to  re 
cover  the  reins,  are  linking  themselves  to  the  new  chief  almost 
without  perceiving  it,  and  professing  to  have  no  other  object 
than  to  make  use  of  him ;  while  he  knows  that  he  is  making 
ase  of  them.  What  this  may  end  in,  it  is  difficult  to  per 
ceive." 

The  truth  about  all  this  is  now  sufficiently  apparent.  The 
President  and  Vice-President  were  on  about  the  same  terms 
as  before.  Colonel  Burr  dined  at  the  White  House  twice  a 
month,  and  with  the  members  of  the  cabinet  about  once  a 
year.  Between  himself  and  Mr.  Madison  there  was  an  ap 
pearance  of  friendliness,  and  a  growing  reality  of  reserve. 
Theodosia  and  the  beautiful  Mrs.  Madison  seem  to  have  been  - 
on  terms  of  considerable  intimacy.  But  Jefferson,  partly  for 
personal,  chiefly  for  patriotic  reasons,  wished  the  Virginia 
politicians  to  continue  the  democratic  rule.  It  was  apparent 
to  Burr  that  their  political  projects  were  incompatible,  and  he 
began  to  look,  more  and  more,  to  the  northern  States  for  sup 
port,  knowing  that  nothing  but  the  impossibility  of  carrying 
an  election  without  him  would  secure  him  the  support  of  the 
Virginians.  The  two  chiefs  were,  therefore,  at  cross  purposes^ 
•»j  far  as  party  management  was  concerned  ;  and  there  is  no 
question  that  Jefferson  now  felt  that  repugnance  to  Burr 
which  their  uncongenial  natures  must,  in  almost  any  circum 
stances,  have  generated.  But  they  never  quarreled.  Down 
to  Burr's  last  visit  to  Philadelphia,  in  1806,  he  called  on  and 
dined  with  the  President  quite  as  usual.  Burr,  it  must  b* 


SU8  LIFE     OF     A  AEON     BURR. 

remembered,  could  not  be,  like  Madison  or  Monroe,  a  satellite 
His  aim  was  to  be  an  independent  power  in  politics. 

To  return  to  Cheetham.  Continuing  his  attack  on  the 
Vice-President,  he  brought  out  his  most  damaging  accusation, 
which  was,  that  Colonel  Burr,  during  the  tie  period,  had  in 
trigued  for  electoral  votes,  with  the  design  to  defraud  Jeffer 
son  of  the  presidency.  The  charge  was  made  with  staggering 
positiveness,  and  desperate  pertinacity.  This  scandal  was 
Cheetham's  master-piece,  and  the  public  mind,  by  his  previous 
efforts,  though  not  convinced,  had  become  prepared  to  receive 
it.  The  better  to  effect  his  purpose,  he  wrote  a  series  of 
"  Nine  Letters,"  in  which  he  professed  to  give  a  history  of 
Colonel  Burr's  political  life,  but  every  page  of  which  showed 
the  man's  ignorance  of  the  subject  upon  which  he  was  writing. 
These  letters  were  afterward  published  in  a  pamphlet,  which 
became,  for  awhile,  the  town-talk,  and  had  a  considerable  cir 
culation  at  all  the  political  centers. 

For  the  purpose  of  showing  the  caliber  and  style  of 
Cheetham,  and  his  slight  acquaintance  with  the  political  his 
tory  of  the  times,  I  will  copy  a  passage  from  his  fifth  epistle, 
which  is  in  his  very  best  Junius  style.  It  contains  just  that 
mixture  of  truth  and  falsehood  which  marks  the  productions 
of  unscrupulous  scribes,  who  are  hired  to  clothe  with  words 
the  ideas  of  their  masters.  Cheetham  was  a  boy  of  seventeen 
when  Colonel  Burr  began  his  political  life.  He  was  just  of  age 
when  Burr  went  to  the  Senate,  and  was  never  in  a  position  to 
aave  any  personal  knowledge  of  interior  politics. 

Thus  Cheetham,  in  his  fifth  epistle  :  "  Your  activity,"  said 
this  Junius  Americanus,  addressing  the  Vice-President,  "  was 
uniformly  apportioned  to  your  selfishness.  You  were  never 
active  but  when  you  had  personal  favors  to  expect.  At  the 
election  for  governor,  in  1792,  after  the  Federalists  refused  to 
%ccept  you  as  their  candidate,  you  were  not  to  be  seen,  and 
scarcely  to  be  heard  of.  In  1795,  when  the  Republicans  made 
choice  of  Judge  Yates  in  preference  to  yourself,  you  retired  in 
dudgeon,  and  neither  moved  your  lips  nor  lifted  your  pen  is 
favor  of  his  election.  In  1796,  you  rendered  no  assistance  t« 
he  Republicans  at  the  election  for  Assembly-men.  In  1797 


CLOUDS     GATHEB  819 

you  manifested  some  concern  for,  and  contributed  your  mite 
to  the  success  of,  the  Republican  ticket ;  but  let  it  be  remem 
bered  that  you  were  that  year  a  candidate  for  the  Assembly ! 
In  1798,  the  darkest  period  the  Union  has  seen  since  the  Rev 
olution,  you  neither  appeared  at  the  Republican  meetings  nor 
at  the  polls,  you  neither  planned  in  the  cabinet  nor  acted  in 
the  field.  If  you  were  then  eloquent,  it  was  the  eloquence  of 
the  grave.  At  that  portentous  period,  when  the  greatest  ex 
ertions  were  made  necessary,  you  manifested  none.  In  1790 
you  were  still  in  your  shell ;  you  were  neither  seen  at  the 
Ward  assemblies  nor  on  the  election  ground.  But  in  1800 
you  were  all  activity  and  zeai.  Every  ligament  of  your  frame 
was  brought  into  action.  You  devoted  night  and  day  to  the 
success  of  the  Republican  ticket.  You  attended  all  our  meet 
ings,  and  harangued  the  assembled  citizens  at  most.  You 
even  stood  at  the  polls  and  challenged  voters.  All  this  was 
admired,  since,  without  looking  at  the  motive,  it  was  service 
able.  We  give  you  full  credit  for  your  zeal  and  activity  on 
the  occasion,  especially  as  it  was  the  first  time  you  exhibited 
either.  But  even  here  you  were  the  same  man.  You  were 
peculiarly  interested  in  the  success  of  the  election.  You 
knew  that  you  would  be  a  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency, 
and  you,  with  the  country  at  large,  were  of  opinion  that  the 
success  of  the  presidential  election  depended  principally  on 
our  triumph  in  that  of  our  city.  You  had  made  nicfj  calcula 
tions  on  this  subject,  and  very  clearly  foresaw  the  necessity 
for  herculean  exertions.  Accordingly,  you  were  all  anima 
tion.  You  were  first  at  the  meeting,  first  at  the  polls.  While 
our  citizens  applauded  your  conduct,  they  were  ignorant  of 
your  motives  ;  they  knew  little  of  your  real  character  ;  it  had 
been  carefully  enveloped  in  mystery.  Like  theirs,  they  fondly 
imagined  that  your  zeal  and  industry  were  the  effect  of  pure 
and  disinterested  patriotism.  Alas  !  sir,  they  knew  you  not. 

And  so  on,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  nine  let 
iers. 

Cheetham's  main  charge  may  be  divided  into  two  counts ; 
first,  that  Colonel  Burr  ntrigued  for  Federal  votes  ;  secondly,    ; 
that  he  intrigued  for  Republican  votes.     Than  the  first  count, 


320  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

no  accusation  made  against  a  politician  was  ever  so  slenderly 
supported  by  evidence,  or  refuted  by  evidence  so  various,  so 
unequivocal,  so  lavishly  superfluous  in  quantity.  In  the 
course  of  the  discussion  which  arose,  every  person  who  could 
have  been  concerned  in  the  alleged  intrigue  —  Burr's  intimate 
friends,  the  leading  Federalists,  members  of  the  House  who 
held  optional  votes  —  denied  in  terms  positive  and  unequiv 
ocal,  in  the  public  press  and  over  their  own  signatures,  that 
they  had  either  taken  part  in,  or  had  any  knowledge  of,  any 
intrigue  or  bargain  between  Colonel  Burr  and  the  Federalists, 
or  between  the  friends  of  Colonel  Burr  and  the  Federalists, 
during  the  period  referred  to,  or  at  any  time  preceding  it. 

David  A.  Ogden  was  accused  of  having  been  an  agent  of 
the  negotiation.  In  the  Morning  Chronicle  of  November 
25th,  1802,  Mr.  Ogden  said :  "When  about  to  return  from 
the  city  of  Washington,  two  or  three  members  of  Congress, 
of  the  Federal  party,  spoke  to  me  about  their  views  as  to  the 
election  of  President,  desiring  me  to  converse  with  Colonel 
Burr  on  the  subject,  and  to  ascertain  whether  he  would  enter 
into  terms.  On  my  return  to  New  York  I  called  on  Colonel 
Burr,  and  communicated  the  above  to  him.  He  explicitly 
declined  the  explanation,  and  did  neither  propose  nor  agree 
to  any  terms.  I  had  no  other  interview  or  communication 
with  him  on  the  subjeet ;  and  so  little  was  I  satisfied  with  this, 
that  in  a  letter  which  I  soon  afterward  wrote  to  a  member  of 
Congress,  and  which  was  the  only  one  I  wrote,  I  dissuaded 
him  from  giving  his  support  to  Colonel  Burr,  and  advised 
rather  to  acquiesce  in  the  election  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  as  the  lesa 
dangerous  man  of  the  two." 

Edward  Livingston,  John  Swartwout,  William  P.  Van  Ness 
Matthew  L.  Davis,  and  others,  declared  the  innocence  of  Buri 
in  language  equally  explicit.  Hamilton  himself  publicl} 
avowed,  in  the  Evening  Post^  that  he  had  no  persona) 
knowledge  of,  or  belief  in,  the  existence  of  any  negotiations 
between  Colonel  Burr  and  the  members  of  the  Federal  party 

Mr.  Bayard  of  Delaware,  who  had  been  in  a  position  to 
know  more  of  the  tie  affair  than  any  other  man,  and  who  had 
inally  given  the  election  to  Jefferson,  re-stated  all  that  had 


CLOUDS     GATHER.  321 

tKJCtirred  in  the  most  minute  and  circumstantial  manner,  in  a 
formal  affidavit.  "  I  took  pains,"  said  Mr.  Bayard,  "  to  dis 
close  the  state  of  things  (in  the  Federal  caucus)  in  such  a 
manner  that  it  might  be  known  to  the  friends  of  Mr.  Burr, 
and  to  those  gentlemen  who  were  believed  to  be  most  dis 
posed  to  change  their  votes  in  his  favor.  I  repeatedly  stated 
to  many  gentlemen  with  whom  I  was  acting,  that  it  was  a  vain 
thing  to  protract  the  election,  as  it  had  become  manifest  that 
Mr.  Burr  would  not  assist  us,  and  as  we  could  do  nothing 
without  his  aid.  I  expected,  under  those  circumstances,  if 
there  was  any  latent  engines  at  work  in  Mr.  Burr's  favor,  the 
plan  of  operations  would  be  disclosed  to  me ;  but,  although  I 
had  the  power,  and  threatened  to  terminate  the  election,  I  had 
not  even  an  intimation  from  any  friend  of  Mr.  Burr's  that  it 
would  be  desirable  to  them  to  protract  it.  I  never  did  dis 
cover  that  Mr.  Burr  used  the  least  influence  to  promote  the 
object  we  had  in  view.  And  being  completely  persuaded  that 
Mr.  Burr  would  not  cooperate  with  us,  I  determined  to  end 
the  contest  by  voting  for  Mr.  Jefferson.  *  *  *  I  have 
no  reason  to  believe,  and  never  did  think  that  he  interfered, 
even  to  the  point  of  personal  influence,  to  obstruct  the  elec 
tion  of  Mr.  Jefferson  or  to  promote  his  own." 

On  another  occasion,  Mr.  Bayard  deposed  :  "  Early  in  the 
election  it  was  reported  that  Mr.  Edward  Livingston,  the 
representative  of  the  city  of  New  York,  was  the  confidential 
agent  for  Mr.  Burr,  and  that  Mr.  Burr  had  committed  him 
self  entirely  to  the  discretion  of  Mr.  Livingston,  having  agreed 
to  adopt  all  his  acts.  I  took  an  occasion  to  sound  Mr.  Living 
ston  on  the  subject,  and  intimated  that,  having  it  my  powei 
to  terminate  the  contest,  I  should  do  so,  unless  he  could  givo 
me  some  assurance  that  we  might  calculate  upon  a  change  in 
the  votes  of  some  of  the  members  of  his  party.  Mr.  Living- 
Bton  stated  that  he  felt  no  great  concern  as  to  the  event  of  the 
election,  but  he  disclaimed  any  agency  from  Mr.  Burr,  or  any 
connection  with  him  on  the  subject,  and  any  knowledge  of 
Mr.  Burr's  designing  to  cooperate  in  support  of  his  election." 

This  volume  would  not  contain  the  printed  matter  which 
Cheethara'e  accusation  called  forth.  Mr.  Van  Ness  wrote  a 

14* 


322  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BUKB. 

vigorous,  nay  a  savage-,  pamphlet  in  reply  to  Cheetham,  which 
added  fuel  to  the  flames  of  passion,  but,  probably,  effected 
little  else.  To  argument,  to  solemn  deposition,  to  circumstan 
tial  affidavit,  Cheetham's  too  effectual  response  was  an  endless 
reiteration  01  the  charge.  For  awhile,  Colonel  Burr  main 
tained  his  usual  silence.  Late  in  September,  when  the  mean 
contest  had  been  waging  for  several  weeks,  he  was  induced 
to  write  a  brief  denial  in  a  letter  to  his  friend,  Governor 
Bloomfield  of  New  Jersey.  "  You  are  at  liberty,"  he  said, 
"  to  declare  from  me  that  all  those  charges  and  insinuations 
which  aver  or  intimate  that  I  advised  or  countenanced  the 
opposition  made  to  Mr.  Jefferson  pending  the  late  election 
and  balloting  for  President ;  that  I  proposed  or  agreed  to  any 
terms  with  the  Federal  party ;  that  I  assented  to  be  held  up 
in  opposition  to  him,  or  attempted  to  withdraw  from  him  the 
vote  or  support  of  any  man,  whether  in  or  out  of  Congress ; 
that  all  such  assertions  and  intimations  are  false  and  ground 
less." 

With  regard  to  Cheetham's  second  count,  namely,  that  Burr 
intrigued  for  Republican  votes,  a  few  words  must  be  added. 
It  is  equally  unsupported  by  evidence.  It  is,  I  am  convinced, 
equally  false.  General  Smith,  of  Maryland,  who  was  Burr's 
proxy  in  the  House,  declared  in  the  Evening  Post,  while  the 
controversy  was  in  full  tide  : 

"  Mr.  Burr  never  visited  me  on  the  subject  of  the  late  elec 
tion  for  President  and  Yice-President  —  Mr.  Burr  never  con 
versed  with  me  a  single  second  on  the  subject  of  that  election, 
either  before  or  since  the  event." 

That  Burr  himself  was  passive  —  that  he  observed  rigor 
ously  the  morality  and  the  etiquette  of  a  situation  novel  and 
bewildering,  is  a  fact  which  became  apparent  to  me  by  read 
ing  the  writings  of  his  enemies,  and  will  become  apparent  to 
any  candid  person  who  will  take  the  same  trouble.  But  it  is 
true  that  John  Swartwout,  General  Van  Ness,  and  others  of 
Burr's  set,  most  ardently  desired  the  elevation  of  their  chief 
to  the  presidency.  It  is  true  that  they  believed  he  ought  tc 
be  elected,  rather  than  have  no  President.  It  is  true,  as  John 
Swartwout,  with  his  usual  frankness  publicly  avowed,  that 


ULOUDS     GATHER.  32* 

the}  tL-jught  it  wcu>d  not  have  been  in  the  least  dishonorable, 
if  they  had  promoted  and  secured  his  election.  It  improbably 
true,  that,  after  several  fruitless  ballotings  had  spread  abroad 
the  impression  that  Jefferson  could  not  be  elected,  both 
Swartwout  and  Van  Ness  wrote  letters  to  Republican  mem 
bers  of  the  House,  urging  them  to  give  up  Jefferson  and  elect 
Burr.  Of  this  they  were  so  far  from  being  ashamed,  that 
they  gave  permission  to  all  their  correspondents  to  publish 
any  letters  of  theirs  on  public  subjects,  which  had  been 
written  during  the  time  it  was  alleged  the  intrigue  had 
occurred. 

Readers  who  have  reached  the  prime  of  life,  can  look  back 
to  the  time  when  John  Quincy  Adams  was  elected  President 
by  the  House  of  Representatives,  through  the  casting  vote  ot 
Henry  Clay,  who  was  immediately  appointed  Secretary  ol 
State  by  the  new  President.  They  can  remember  how,  during 
the  next  four  years,  the  opposition  press  rang  with  the  charge 
of  "  bargain  and  corruption."  That  charge,  mean,  and  ground 
less  as  it  was,  turned  one  of  the  two  men  out  of  the  presi 
dency,  and  kept  out  the  other,  through  twenty  years  of  such 
popularity  as  no  other  partisan  has  ever  enjoyed  with  the  en 
lightened  portion  of  the  American  people.  From  that,  we  ol 
this  generation  may  form  an  idea  of  the  effect  which  Cheet- 
ham's  accusation,  taken  up  by  other  papers  and  ceaselessly  re 
peated,  had  upon  the  political  fortunes  of  Aaron  Burr.  He 
had  not  the  wealth  of  popularity  to  draw  upon  which  gathered 
round  Henry  Clay's  magnificent  form  and  generous,  gallant 
heart ;  and  if  Clay's  electric  name  was  not  proof  against  base 
and  baseless  scandal,  is  it  wonderful  that  the  luster  of  Burr's 
not  untarnished  fame  should  have  been  diminished  by  it  be- 
yond  remedy  ? 

Bitter  and  deadly,  beyond  what  the  modern  reader  can 
imagine,  were  the  political  controversies  of  that  period.  The 
»aw  of  the  pistol  was  in  full  force.  In  1801,  Hamilton's  eldest 
kon,  a  high-spirited  youth  of  twenty,  fell  in  a  duel  which  arose 
from  a  political  dispute  at  the  theater.  "  He  was  murdered  in 
a  duel,"  said  Coleman,  of  the  Evening  Post,  who  that  very 
month  had  threatened  Cheetham  with  a  challenge,  and  who 


524  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

the  next  day  spoke  of  "  the  insolent  vulgarity  of  that  base 
wretch."* 

The  duel  between  John  Swartwout  and  De  Witt  Clinton, 
which  occurred  amid  the  heat  and  violence  of  1802,  was  the 
most  remarkable  conflict  of  the  kind  which  has  ever  occurred, 
this  side  of  the  Emerald  Isle.  Clinton  was  a  strong-headed 
and  bitter-tongued  politician.  Swartwout  was  a  frank  hearted, 
brave  man,  devoted  to  Burr  with  a  disinterested  enthusiasm, 
that  stood  all  the  tests  to  which  friendship  can  ever  be  sub 
jected.  He  saw  with  furious  disgust  the  efforts  of  De  Witt 
Clinton's  creatures  to  blacken  Burr's  reputation,  and  had  him 
self  experienced  the  effects  of  his  hostility.  Clinton  hearing 
that  Swartwout  had  accused  him  of  opposing  Burr  on  ground,, 
personal  and  selfish,  called  him  "  a  liar,  a  scoundrel,  and  a  vil- 
iain."  This  was  reported  to  Swartwout,  and  a  duel  was  the 
result. 

WhzAj  occurred  at  the  ground  at  Weehawken,  was  stated  in 
the  newspapers  of  the  day  by  Colonel  Smith,  Swartwout's 
second :  "  The  gentlemen  took  their  stations  —  were  each  pre 
sented  with  a  pistol,  and,  by  order,  faced  to  the  right,  and 
fired,  ineffectually.  At  the  request  of  Mr.  Riker,  I  asked  Mr. 
Swartwout, '  Are  you  satisfied,  sir  ?'  He  answered,  *  I  am  not.' 
The  pistols  then  being  exchanged,  and  their  positions  resumed, 
by  order,  the  gentlemen  faced  to  the  right,  and  fired  a  second 
shot,  without  effect.  At  the  request  of  Mr.  Hiker,  I  again 
addressed  Mr.  Swartwout,  '  Are  you  satisfied,  sir  ?'  He  an 
swered  strongly  in  the  negative,  we  proceeded,  and  a  third 
shot  was  exchanged,  without  injury.  At  the  request  of  Mr. 
Riker,  I  again  asked  Mr.  Swartwout,  c  Are  you  satisfied,  sir  ?' 
He  answered,  *  I  am  not  —  neither  shall  I  be,  until  that  apol 
ogy  is  made  which  I  have  demanded.  Until  then  we  must 
proceed.'  I  then  presented  a  paper  to  Mr.  Riker,  containing 

•  The  following  epigram  appeared  in  the  Evening  Post,  a  little  later : 

"  Lie  on  Duane,  lie  cm  for  pay, 

And  Cheetham,  he  thou  too  ; 
More  against  truth  you  can  not  say, 
Than  truth  can  say  'gainst  you  " 


CLOUDS     GATHJEB.  328 

jhe  apology  demanded,  for  Mr.  Clinton's  signature,  observing, 
that  we  could  not  spend  our  time  in  conversation ;  that  this 
paper  must  be  signed  or  proceed.  Mr.  Clinton  declared  he 
would  not  sign  any  paper  on  the  subject  —  that  he  had  no 
animosity  against  Mr.  Swartwout  —  would  willingly  shake 
hands  and  agree  to  meet  on  the  score  of  former  friendship. 

"  Mr.  Swartwout  insisting  on  his  signature  to  the  apology, 
and  Mr.  Clinton  declining,  they  stood  at  their  posts  and  fired 
a  fourth  shot.  Mr.  Clinton's  ball  struck  Mr.  Swartwout's  left 
leg,  about  five  inches  below  the  knee  ;  —  he  stood  ready  and 
collected.  At  the  request  of  Mr.  Hiker,  I  again  addressed 
Mr.  Swartwout,  '  Are  you  satisfied,  sir  ?'  He  answered,  that 
*  It  was  useless  to  repeat  the  question  —  my  determination  ia 
fixed  —  and  I  beg  we  may  proceed.'  Mr.  Clinton  repeated 
that  he  had  no  animosity  against  Mr.  Swartwout  —  was  sorry 
for  what  had  passed  —  proposed  to  advance,  shake  hands,  and 
bury  the  circumstance  in  oblivion.  During  this  conversation, 
Mr.  Swartwout's  surgeon,  kneeling  by  his  side,  extracted  the 
ball  from  the  opposite  side  of  his  leg.  Mr.  Swartwout  stand 
ing  erect  on  his  post,  and  positively  declining  any  thing  short 
of  an  ample  apology,  they  fired  the  fifth  shot,  and  Mr.  Swart 
wout  received  the  ball  in  the  left  leg,  about  five  inches  above 
the  ancle;  still,  however,  standing  steadily  at  his  post,  per 
fectly  composed.  At  the  request  of  Mr.  Riker,  I  again  ad 
dressed  Mr.  Swartwout,  *  Are  you  satisfied,  sir?'  He  forcibly 
answered,  '  I  am  not,  sir ;  proceed.'  Mr.  Clinton  then  quit 
his  station,  declined  the  combat,  and  declared  he  would  fire 
no  more.  Mr.  Swartwout  declared  himself  surprised,  that 
Mr.  Clinton  would  neither  apologize  nor  give  him  the  satisfac 
tion  required  ;  and  addressing  me,  said,  '  What  shall  I  do,  mj 
friend  ?'  I  answered,  '  Mr  Clinton  declines  making  the  apol 
ogy  required  —  refuses  taking  his  position  —  and  positively 
declares  he  will  fight  no  more  ;  and  his  second  appearing  to 
acquiesce  in  the  disposition  of  his  principal,  there  is  nothing 
further  left  for  you  now,  but  to  nave  your  wounds  dressed.' 
The  surgeons  attended,  dressed  Mr.  Swartwout's  wounds,  and 
the  gentlemen  in  their  respective  barges,  returned  to  the 
eity." 


326  LIFE     OP     AAEON    BUBR. 

An  o/t  dit  of  the  day  was,  that  Clinton  said,  during  the  prog* 
-ess  of  the  duel,  u  I  wish  I  had  the  principal  here,"  referring 
to  Colonel  Burr. 

The  next  year,  De  Witt  Clinton  was  challenged  by  Senator 
Tonathan  Dayton,  of  Now  Jersey,  another  of  Burr's  intimates, 
Lut  the  affair  was  peacefully  arranged.  The  year  following, 
Robert  Swartwout  fought  with  Richard  Riker,  a  zealous  Clin- 
tonian,  who  had  served  as  second  to  Clinton  in  his  duel  with 
John  Swartwout.  In  this  duel,  Riker  was  severely  wounded, 
but  he  recovered  to  sit  for  many  years  on  the  Recorder's 
bench  in  the  city  of  New  York.  The  same  year,  Coleman  of 
the  Evening  Post,  provoked  beyond  endurance  by  an  at 
tack  of  surpassing  malignancy  in  the  American  Citizen,  for 
got  himself  so  far  as  to  challenge  Cheetharn.  But  the  cur 
could  not  be  brought  to  bay.  "  Friends  interfered,"  a  truce 
was  patched  up,  and  Cheetham  agreed  to  behave  better  in 
future. 

Out  of  this  affair,  however,  another  quarrel  grew,  which  led 
to  one  of  the  most  diabolical  duels  ever  fought.  Captain 
Thompson,  harbor-master  of  New  York,  loudly  espoused 
Cheetham's  cause,  and  gave  out  that  it  was  Coleman,  not 
Cheetham,  that  had  showed  the  white  feather.  Coleman  heard 
of  it,  and  challenged  him.  The  twilight  of  a  winter's  evening 
found  the  parties  arrayed  against  each  other  in  lonely  "Love- 
lane,"  now  called  "Twenty-first-street."  It  was  cold,  there 
was  snow  on  the  ground,  and  it  was  nearly  dark.  A  shot  or 
two  was  exchanged  without  effect,  and  then  the  princpals 
were  placed  nearer  together,  that  they  might  see  one  another 
better.  At  length  Thompson  was  heard  to  cry,  "  I've  got  it," 
and  fell  headlong  on  the  snow.  Coleman  and  his  second  hur 
ried  away,  while  the  surgeon  raised  the  bleeding  man,  exam 
ined  his  wound,  and  saw  that  it  was  mortal.  On  learning  his 
fate,  Thompson,  at  the  surgeon's  suggestion,  promised  never 
to  divulge  the  names  of  the  parties,  and,  with  a  heroism 
worthy  of  a  better  cause,  he  kept  his  word.  "  He  was  brought 
mortally  wounded,  to  his  sister's  house  in  town  :  he  was  laid  at 
the  door,  the  bell  was  rung,  the  family  came  out,  and  found 
him  bleeding  and  near  his  death.  He  refused  to  name  his 


CLOu'DS     GATHER.  321 

antagonist,  or  give  any  account  of  the  affair,  declaring  that 
every  thing  which  had  been  done  was  honorably  done,  and 
desired  that  no  attempt  should  be  made  to  seek  out  or  molest 
nis  adversary."* 

To  such  lengths  can  political  fury  drive  men  of  honor,  edu 
cation  and  humanity.  Let  us  hasten  past  these  deplorable 
scenes. 

Three  years  of  Colonel  Burr's  Vice-Presidency  passed  in 
these  contentions.  They  told  upon  his  popularity.  As  the 
time  for  selecting  candidates  for  the  presidential  campaign 
drew  on,  it  became  manifest  that  he  could  not  secure  the  ui^ 
divided  support  of  the  Republican  party  for  a  second  term. 
His  career  was  interrupted.  He  must  pause  a  while.  By 
some  other,  and  longer,  and  more  circuitous  path  he  must 
continue  his  ascent  to  that  top-most,  dazzling  height,  which 
has  lured  so  many  Americans  to  falseness  of  life  and  meanness 
of  aim.  The  course  which  he  pursued,  in  these  circumstances, 
was  precisely  what  fidelity  to  his  party  would  have  dictated. 

Toward  the  close  of  January,  1804,  he  requested  a  private 
interview  with  the  President.  On  the  designated  evening, 
the  two  chiefs  met,  and  had  a  long  conversation.  The  ac 
count  which  Mr.  Jefferson  left  of  this  interview  is  doubtless, 
in  the  main  particulars,  correct,  but  some  of  the  minor  cir 
cumstances  are  evidently  colored  by  his  natural  dislike  of  a 
man  who,  he  thought,  had  been  his  rival  without  being  his 
equal.  No  man  can  write  quite  fairly  of  one  whom  he  hates, 
despises,  or  fears. 

Colonel  Burr  began  the  conversation  by  sketching  his  politi 
cal  career  in  New  York,  dwelling  particularly  on  the  late  cru- 
Bade  against  him.  He  proceeded  to  say,  among  other  things, 
that  his  attachment  to  Mr.  Jefferson  had  been  sincere,  and 
that  he  had  keenly  enjoyed  his  company  and  conversation. 
His  feelings  had  undergone  no  change,  although  "  many  little 
stories"  had  been  carried  to  him,  and,  he  supposed,  to  Mr. 
Jefferson  also,  which  he  despised.  But  attachment  must  be 
reciprocal  or  cease  to  exist,  and  therefore  he  desired  to  know 
whether  any  change  had  taken  place  in  the  feelings  of  Mr 
*  "  Reminiscences  of  the  Evening  Post."  By  W.  C.  Bryant. 


328  LIFE     OF     AAKON     BURR. 

Jefferson  toward  himself.  "  He  reminded  me,"  says  Jefferson, 
"  of  a  letter  written  to  him  about  the  time  of  counting  the 
votes,  mentioning  that  his  election  had  left  a  chasm  in  my  ar 
rangements  ;  that  I  had  lost  him  from  my  list  in  the  adminis 
tration,  etc.  He  observed,  he  believed  it  would  be  for  the 
interest  of  the  Republican  cause  for  him  to  retire ;  that  a 
disadvantageous  schism  would  otherwise  take  place  ;  but  that 
were  he  to  retire,  it  would  be  said  he  shrunk  from  the  public 
sentence,  which  he  would  never  do ;  that  his  enemies  were 
using  my  name  to  destroy  him,  and  something  was  necessary 
from  me  to  prevent  and  deprive  them  of  that  weapon,  some 
mark  of  favor  from  me  which  would  declare  to  the  world  that 
he  retired  with  my  confidence." 

The  President  replied  at  great  length.  Waiving  Burr's  in 
quiry  respecting  his  personal  feelings,  he  said,  that,  as  he  had 
not  interfered  in  the  election  of  1800,  so  he  was  resolved  not 
to  influence  the  one  which  was  then  impending.  He  did  not 
know  who  were  to  be  candidates,  and  never  permitted  any 
one  to  converse  with  him  on  the  subject.  With  regard  to  the 
attacks  which  the  press  had  made  upon  the  Vice-President, 
he  had  noticed  them  but  as  the  passing  wind.  He  had  seen 
complaints  that  Cheetham,  employed  in  publishing  the  laws, 
should  be  permitted  to  eat  the  public  bread,  and  abuse  its 
second  officer.  But  the  laws  were  published  in  some  papers 
vhich  abused  the  President  continually,  and,  as  he  had  never 
thought  proper  to  interfere  for  himself,  he  had  not  deemed  it 
his  duty  to  do  so  in  the  case  of  the  Vice-President. 

"  I  now,"  continues  Mr.  Jefferson,  "  went  on  to  explain  to 
him  verbally  what  I  meant  by  saying  I  had  lost  him  from  my 
list.  That  in  General  Washington's  time,  it  had  been  signified 
to  him  that  Mr.  Adams,  the  Vice-President,  would  be  glad  of 
a  foreign  embassy  ;  that  General  Washington  mentioned  it  to 
me,  expressed  his  doubts  whether  Mr,  Adams  was  a  fit  charac 
ter  for  such  an  office,  and  his  still  greater  doubts,  indeed,  his 
conviction,  that  it  would  not  be  justifiable  to  send  away  the 
Derson  who,  in  case  of  his  death,  was  provided  by  the  Consti« 
ution  to  take  his  place  ;  that  it  would,  moreover,  appear 
n decent  for  him  to  be  disposing  of  the  public  trusts  in  ap 


CLOUDS     GATHER.  328 

pareutly  buying  off  a  competitor  for  the  public  favor.  I  con 
curred  with  him  in  the  opinion,  and  if  I  lecollect  rightly, 
Hamilton,  Knox,  and  Randolph  were  consulted,  and  gave  the 
same  opinions.  That  when  Mr.  Adams  came  to  the  adminis 
tration,  in  his  first  interview  with  me,  he  mentioned  the  neces 
sity  of  a  mission  to  France,  and  how  desirable  it  would  have 
been  for  him  if  he  could  have  got  me  to  undertake  it ;  but 
that  he  conceived  it  would  be  wrong  in  him  to  send  me  away, 
and  assigned  the  same  reasons  General  Washington  had  done; 
and,  therefore,  he  should  appoint  Mr.  Madison,  etc.  That  I 
had  myself  contemplated  his  (Colonel  Burr's)  appointment  to 
one  of  the  great  offices,  in  case  he  was  not  elected  Vice-Pres 
ident,  but  that  as  soon  as  that  election  was  known,  I  saw  that 
it  could  not  be  done,  for  the  good  reasons  which  had  led  Gen 
eral  Washington  and  Mr.  Adams  to  the  same  conclusion  ;  and, 
therefore,  in  my  first  letter  to  Colonel  Burr  after  the  issue 
was  known,  I  had  mentioned  to  him  that  a  chasm  in  my  ar 
rangements  had  been  produced  by  this  event.  I  was  thus  par 
ticular  in  rectifying  the  date  of  this  letter,  because  it  gave  me 
an  opportunity  of  explaining  the  grounds  on  which  it  was 
written,  which  were,  indirectly,  an  answer  to  his  present  hints. 
He  left  the  matter  with  me  for  consideration,  and  the  conver 
sation  was  turned  to  indifferent  subjects." 

Mr.  Jefferson  concludes  this  day's  journalizing  with  the  fol 
lowing  remarks :  "  I  had  never  seen  Colonel  Burr  till  he  came 
as  a  member  of  the  Senate.  His  conduct  very  soon  inspired 
me  with  distrust.  I  habitually  cautioned  Mr.  Madison  against 
trusting  him  too  much.  I  saw,  afterward,  that,  under  Gen 
eral  Washington's  and  Mr.  Adams's  administrations,  whenever 
a  great  military  appointment,  or  a  diplomatic  one  was  to  be 
made,  he  came  post  to  Philadelphia  to  show  himself,  and,  in 
fact,  thai,  he  was  always  at  market,  if  they  had  wanted  him. 
He  was,  indeed,  told  by  Dayton,  in  1800,  he  might  be  Secre 
tary  at  War ;  but  this  bid  was  too  late.  His  election  as  Vice- 
president  was  then  foreseen.  With  these  impressions  of  Col- 
onel  Burr,  there  never  had  been  an  intimacy  between  us,  and 
but  little  association.  When  1  destined  him  for  a  high  ap 
pointment,  it  was  out  of  respect  for  the  favor  he  had  obtained 


330  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURB. 

with  the  Republican  party,  by  his  extraordinary  exertions  and 
mccesses  in  the  New  York  election  in  1 800." 

Mr.  Jefferson's  memory  Was  a  little  at  fault  here.  While 
Jie  Republican  party  was  slowly  working  its  way  to  a  major- 
ty,  and  the  effective  help  of  Colonel  Burr  was  given  freely  to 
he  cause,  Jefferson's  manner  toward  him  w^as  cordial  to  a 
omewhat  marked  degree.  In  June,  1Y97,  for  example,  he 
began  a  long  and  unsolicited  letter  to  Colonel  Burr,  with 
these  words :  "  The  newspapers  give  so  minutely  what  is 
passing  in  Congress,  that  nothing  of  detail  can  be  wanting  for 
your  information.  Perhaps,  however,  some  general  view  of 
Dur  situation  and  prospects  since  you  left  us  may  not  be  unac 
ceptable.  At  any  rate,  it  will  give  me  an  opportunity  of  re 
calling  myself  to  your  memory,  and  of  evidencing  my  esteem 
for  you." 

A  few  slips  of  this  kind  are  all  the  Federal  writers  have  to 
support  their  charge  against  Jefferson  of  insincerity.  One 
needs  little  observation  of  life,  and  less  charity,  to  give  them 
a  very  different  interpretation.  And,  after  all,  the  discrep 
ancy  is  not  great.  In  1*797,  he  had  an  esteem  for  Colonel 
Burr ;  in  1804,  he  says  he  had  never  liked  him,  and  had  cau 
tioned  Madison  against  trusting  him  too  far.  Liking  and  es 
teeming  are  sentiments  so  different  that  either  may  exist  in 
a  high  degree  without  the  other.  In  1804,  it  is  plain,  Jef 
ferson's  dislike  of  Burr  was  extreme,  perhaps  morbid,  and  De 
Witt  Clinton  himself  was  not  more  averse  to  his  further  po 
litical  advancement.  Jefferson  admits,  in  one  of  his  later  let 
ters,  that  upon  learning  Burr's  designs,  after  their  interview, 
it  was  he  who  caused  information  of  the  same  to  be  sent  to  the 
Clintons  in  New  York. 

Repulsed  by  the  chief,  hated  by  the  Republican  leaders  in 
his  own  State,  distrusted  by  large  numbers  of  the  party,  Col 
onel  Burr  and  his  friends  resolved  upon  an  appeal  to  the  peo 
ple.  In  February  the  plan  was  matured,  and  Burr  was  an- 
nounced  as  an  independent  candidate  for  the  governorship  of 
New  York.  A  small  caucus  of  members  of  the  legislature  for 
mally  nominated  him  on  the  18th  of  February,  and  on  subse- 
-uent  days  the  nomination  was  ratified  by  public  meetings  ii 


CLOUDS     GATHER.  831 

Albany  and  New  York.  "  Say  to  your  husband,"  wrote  Burr 
to  his  daughter,  on  the  loth,  "  that  the  Clintons,  Livingstons, 
etc.,  had  not,  at  the  last  advice  from  Albany,  decided  on  their 
candidate  for  governor.  Hamilton  is  intriguing  for  any  can 
didate  who  can  have  a  chance  of  success  against  A.  B.  He 
would,  doubtless,  become  the  advocate  of  even  De  Witt  Clin 
ton,  if  he  should  be  the  opponent." 

This  was  true.  Hamilton  saw  the  ulterior  advantages  which 
the  election  of  Burr  as  governor  would  give  him,  and  he  op 
posed  it  in  all  ways,  and  with  the  whole  weight  of  his  influ 
ence.  The  Federal  party,  reduced  now  to  a  faction,  had  no 
serious  thoughts  of  even  nominating  a  candidate,  and  Hamil 
ton's  efforts  were  concentrated  on  the  single  object  of  defeat 
ing  Burr.  Governor  Clinton  declined  a  reelection.  Lansing, 
a  politician  of  long  experience  and  high  respectability,  was  the 
candidate  first  named  by  the  Republicans,  and  Hamilton  was 
strenuous,  in  caucus  and  out  of  caucus,  in  urging  the  Federal 
ists  to  vote  for  him.  A  short  article  of  Hamilton's  on  this 
point,  which  has  been  thought  worthy  of  republication  in 
his  works,  gives  eight  reasons  "  why  it  is  desirable  that  Mr. 
Lansing,  rather  than  Colonel  Burr,  should  succeed."  To  com 
plete  the  evidence  in  the  great  case  of  Hamilton  against  Burr, 
this  catalogue  of  "  Reasons"  is  here  inserted : 

"  1.  Colonel  Burr  has  steadily  pursued  the  trick  of  demo 
cratic  politics.  This  he  had  done  either  from  principle  or  from 
calculation.  If  the  former,  he  is  not  likely  now  to  change  his 
plan,  when  the  Federalists  are  prostrate,  and  their  enemies 
predominant.  If  the  latter,  he  will  certainly  not  at  this  time 
relinquish  the  ladder  of  his  ambition,  and  espouse  the  cause  or 
views  of  the  weaker  party. 

"  2.  Though  detested  by  some  of  the  leading  Clintonians,  he 
is  certainly  not  personally  disagreeable  to  the  great  body  of 
ihem,  and  it  will  be  no  difficult  task  for  a  man  of  talents,  in 
trigue,  and  address,  possessing  the  chair  of  government,  to 
rally  the  great  body  of  them  under  his  standard,  and  thereby 
to  consolidate  for  personal  purposes  the  mass  of  the  Clintoni- 
ans,  his  own  adherents  among  the  Democrats,  and  such  Fed 


332  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

eralists,  as,  from  personal  good- will  or  interested  motives,  may 
give  him  support. 

"  3.  The  effect  of  his  elevation  will  be  to  reunite,  under  a 
more  adroit,  able,  and  daring  chief,  the  now  scattered  frag- 
ments  of  the  democratic  party,  and  to  reinforce  it  by  a  strong 
detachment  from  the  Federalists.  For  though  virtuous  Fed- 
eralists  who,  from  miscalculation,  may  support  him,  would 
afterward  relinquish  his  standard,  a  large  number,  from  various 
motives,  would  continue  attached  to  it. 

"  4.  A  further  effect  of  his  elevation,by  aid  of  the  Federalists 
will  be  to  present  to  the  confidence  of  New  England  a  man 
already  the  man  of  the  democratic  leaders  of  that  country, 
and  toward  whom  the  mass  of  the  people  have  no  weak  pre 
dilection,  as  their  countryman,  as  the  grandson  of  President 
Edwards,  and  the  son  of  President  Burr.  In  vain  will  certain 
men  resist  this  predilection,  when  it  can  be  said  that  he  was 
chosen  Governor  of  this  State,  in  which  he  was  best  known, 
principally,  or  in  a  great  degree,  by  the  aid  of  the  Federal  • 
ists. 

"  5.  This  will  give  him  fair  play  to  disorganize  New  England, 
if  so  disposed  ;  a  thing  not  very  difficult,  when  the  strength 
of  the  democratic  party  in  each  of  the  New  England  States  is 
considered,  and  the  natural  tendency  of  our  civil  institutions 
is  duly  weighed. 

"  6.  The  ill-opinion  of  Jefferson,  and  the  jealousy  of  the  am 
bition  of  Virginia,  is  no  inconsiderable  prop  of  good  principles 
in  that  country.  But  these  causes  are  leading  to  an  opinion, 
that  a  dismemberment  of  the  Union  is  expedient.  It  would 
probably  suit  Mr.  Burr's  views  to  promote  this  result,  to  be 
the  chief  of  the  northern  portion ;  and  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  no  man  would  be  more  likely  to  suc 
ceed. 

"  7.  If  he  be  truly,  as  the  Federalists  have  believed,  a  man  of 
irregular  and  insatiable  ambition,  if  his  plan  has  been  to  rise 
"o  power  on  the  ladder  of  Jacobinic  principles,  it  is  natural  to 
conclude  that  he  will  endeavor  to  fix  himself  in  power  bv  the 
eame  instrument ;  that  he  will  not  lean  on  a  fallen  and  falling 
party,  generally  speaking,  not  of  a  character  to  favor  usurpa 


CLOUDS     GATHER.  3S3 

non  and  the  ascendency  of  a  despotic  chief.  Every  day  shows, 
uore  and  more,  the  much  to  be  regretted  tendency  of  gov 
ernments  entirely  popular,  to  dissolution  and  disorder.  Is  it 
rational  to  expect  that  a  man,  who  had  the  sagacity  to  foresee 
this  tendency,  and  whose  temper  would  permit  him  to  bottom 
his  aggrandizement  on  popular  prejudice  and  vices,  would  de 
sert  the  system  at  the  time  when,  more  than  ever,  the  state 
of  things  invites  him  to  adhere  to  it  ? 

"  8.  If  Lansing  is  governor,  his  personal  character  affords 
some  security  against  pernicious  extremes,  and  at  the  same 
time  renders  it  morally  certain  that  the  democratic  party, 
already  much  divided  and  weakened,  will  molder  and  break 
asunder  more  and  more.  This  is  certainly  a  state  of  things 
favorable  to  the  future  ascendency  of  the  wise  and  good. 
May  it  not  lead  to  a  recasting  of  parties,  by  which  the  Fed 
eralists  will  gain  a  great  accession  of  force  from  former  oppo 
nents  ?  At  any  rate,  is  it  not  wiser  in  them  to  promote  a 
course  of  things  by  which  schism  among  the  Democrats  will 
be  fostered  and  increased,  than,  on  a  fair  calculation,  to  give 
them  a  chief,  better  able  than  any  they  have  yet  had,  to  unite 
and  direct  them ;  and  in  a  situation  to  infuse  rottenness  in  the 
only  part  of  our  country  which  still  remains  sound,  the  Federal 
States  of  New  England  ?" 

This  article  was  written  too  soon ;  for,  in  a  few  days,  Mr. 
TAPtfcg,  much  to  Hamilton's  regret,  declined,  and  Chief  Just- 
.oe  Lewis  was  nominated  in  his  stead.  Lewis  was  a  more 
Jecided  partisan,  and  a  less  acceptable  man  than  Lansing,  and 
4 ..is  nomination  was  supposed  to  be  favorable  to  the  prospects 
cf  Colonel  Burr.  "From  the  moment  Clinton  declined," 
wrote  Hamilton  to  Rufus  King,  "  I  began  to  consider  Burr 
as  having  a  chance  of  success.  It  was  still,  however,  my  reli 
ance  that  Lansing  would  outrun  him ;  but  now  that  Chief 
Justice  Lewis  is  his  competitor,  the  probability,  in  my  judg 
ment,  inclines  to  Burr."  To  defeat  him,  Hamilton's  first 
icheme  was  to  run  Rufus  King  as  the  regular  candidate  of 
the  Federal  party.  That  abandoned,  ne  confined  his  exertions 
to  keeping  as  many  Federal  voters  as  possible  from  supporting 
the  detested  candidate. 


334  LIFE     OF     AARON     BUER. 

I  need  not  dwell  on  the  contest,  the  result  of  which  is  only 
too  well  known.  Like  nine  out  of  ten  of  our  State,  and  seven 
out  of  ten  of  our  national  elections,  it  was  a  contest  without 
an  idea ;  a  preposterous  struggle  to  put  another  man  in  a  place 
already  well-filled. 

The  Address  put  forth  by  the  Bui-rites  dwelt  upon  their 
candidate's  being  a  single  man,  with  no  train  of  family  con 
nections  to  quarter  upon  the  public  treasury ;  upon  his  tal 
ents  and  revolutionary  services ;  upon  the  stand  he  had  made 
against  the  British  treaty ;  upon  the  recent  endeavors,  on  the 
part  of  wealthy  factions,  to  destroy,  by  unprecedented  calum 
nies,  the  confidence  of  the  people  in  the  Vice-President's  integ 
rity  ;  upon  his  liberal  patronage  of  science  and  the  fine  arts ; 
upon  the  recent  sale  of  part  of  his  estate,  and  the  payment  of 
his  debts ;  upon  his  known  generosity  and  disinterestedness  ; 
and,  finally,  upon  the  character  of  his  great  ancestors,  Presi 
dent  Burr  and  President  Edwards,  the  best  traits  of  both  of 
whom,  said  the  Address,  were  blended  in  the  character  of 
Colonel  Burr. 

It  was  an  animated  and  very  acrimonious  contest.  Burr's 
friends,  it  is  true,  conducted  their  canvass  with  decorum,  and 
never  once  assailed  the  private  character  of  the  opposing  can 
didate.  But  Cheetharn  teemed  with  lies.  For  two  months, 
his  paper  was  chiefly  devoted  to  maligning  and  burlesqueing 
the  character  of  Burr  and  his  adherents.  Jefferson  gave  the 
weight  of  his  great  name  to  the  Clintonian  candidate.  A  con 
versation  in  which  the  President  was  represented  as  declaring 
that  the  "  Little  Hand"  (Cheetham's  nickname  for  Burr's  set) 
was  not  the  real  democracy,  was  printed  in  capitals  in  the 
American  Citizen,  and  kept  standing  during  the  three  daya 
of  the  election.*  Not  content  with  what  his  paper  could 
effect,  Cheetham,  on  the  second  day  of  the  election,  printed  a 
handbill,  setting  forth  that  Burr  was  a  remorseless  and  whole 
sale  seducer;  that  the  brothels  of  New  York  were  filled 

*  One  of  Cheetham's  fables  was,  that  or  the  night  before  the  election,  the 
Vice-President,  through  Alexis,  his  slave,  i\ad  given  A  ball  to  the  colored 
voters  at  Richmond  Hill,  and  that  he  had  himself  led  out  to  the  dance  a 
uxon.  wench.     This  story  was  given  a?  a  ballad  u*  the  American  Citizen. 


CLOUDS     GATHER.  335 

with  his  victims  ,  and  that  the  father  of  one  of  them  was  at 
;hat  moment  in  the  city  burning  to  wreak  a  deadly  vengeance 
upon  the  seducer's  head.  This  handbill  Cheetham  distributed 
with  his  own  hands  at  the  polls. 

But  the  "  Little  Band"  were  confident  of  success,  and 
worked  for  it  as  men  seldom  work  for  the  advantage  of  an 
other. 

Burr  himself  was,  as  usual,  imperturbable.  March  28tk  he 
wrote  to  Theodosia :  "  They  are  very  busy  here  about  an 
election  between  Morgan  Lewis  and  A.  Burr,  the  former 
supported  by  the  Livingstons  and  Clintons,  the  latter  per  se, 
I  would  send  you  some  new  and  amusing  libels  against  the 
Vice-President,  but,  as  you  did  not  send  the  speech,"  etc. 
April  25th,  which  was  the  second  day  of  the  election :  "  I 
write  in  a  storm  ;  an  election  storm,  of  the  like  you  have  once 
been  a  witness.  The  thing  began  yesterday  and  will  termi 
nate  to-morrow.  My  head-quarters  are  in  John-street,  and  I 
have,  since  the  beginning  of  this  letter,  been  already  three 
times  interrupted.  *  *  *  Both  parties  claim  majorities, 
and  there  never  was,  in  my  opinion,  an  election,  of  the  result 
of  which  so  little  judgment  could  be  formed.  A.  B.  will  have 
a  small  majority  in  the  city  if  to-morrow  should  be  a  fair  day, 
and  not  else."  The  morrow  was  a  fair  day.  A.  B.  did  have 
a  small  majority  (about  one  hundred)  in  the  city.  For  a  few 
hours,  the  Burrites  exulted ;  but  returns  from  the  country  soon 
changed  their  note.  Five  days  after,  among  the  gossipy  para 
graphs  of  an  unusually  gossipy  letter  from  Burr  to  his  daughter, 
occurred  this  single  line  about  the  election  :  "  The  election  is 
lost  by  a  great  majority  ;  so  much  the  better."  Lewis  had,  in 
fact,  received  35,000  votes  ;  Burr,  28,000  ;  majority  for  Lewis, 
,000. 

He  vras  beaten,  but,  by  no  means,  destroyed,  as  is  usually 
represented.  A  large  number  of  his  original  supporters  had 
Abandoned  him  ;  but,  besides  his  own  peculiar  adherents,  he 
was  now  strong  in  the  confidence  of  the  more  moderate  Fed 
eralists,  and  nothing  but  Hamilton's  vehement  opposition  had 
prevented  that  party's  voting  for  him  en  masse.  He  had,  also 
this  advantage  —  the  libels  which  had  destroyed  his  standing 


536  LIFE     OF     AAKON     BUKR. 

for  the  time,  with  his  own  party,  were  not  only  false,  but  were 
known  to  be  false  by  the  leaders  of  both  sides.  The  truth  was 
likely  to  become  manifest,  and  a  reaction  to  set  in,  which 
might  bear  him  in  triumph  over  all  opposition  to  more  than 
his  former  elevation.  The  spectacle  of  a  man  who  owes  his 
fortune  to  his  own  exertions,  contending  singly  against  an 
cient  wealth  and  powerful  families,  is  one  which  appeals  to 
the  sympathies  and  to  the  imagination  of  Anglo-Saxons.  With 
tact  such  as  his,  with  friends  so  devoted,  with  partisans  so 
warm,  with  enemies  so  feebly  united  that  they  only  awaited 
his  downfall  to  war  with  one  another,  who  could  say  what  he 
might  not  effect  before  another  presidential  election  came 
round  ? 

It  is  a  mistake,  too,  to  suppose  that  the  result  of  this  elec 
tion  rendered  Colonel  Burr  morose  and  gloomy.  Colonel  Burr, 
in  all  his  long  life,  never  knew  a  gloomy  day  nor  a  morose 
hour.  One  who  applies  such  epithets  to  him  shows  by  that 
fact  alone,  that  he  is  ignorant  of  the  man's  character.  His 
Bpirits  rode  as  buoyantly  and  as  safely  over  all  disasters  as  a 
cork  over  the  cataract  of  Niagara.  There  was  not  in  him  the 
Rtuff  out  of  which  gloom  is  made.  He  was  of  Damascus 
quality ;  his  elasticity  was  inexhaustible.  Cheetham  was  not 
very  wrong,  perhaps,  when  he  said  that  Burr  was  elated  by 
the  result  of  the  election ;  as  it  showed  him  his  strength  as 
an  independent  candidate,  and  gave  him  new  hopes  of  being 
able  to  form  a  great  democratic,  anti- Virginia  party. 

Would  that  he  could  have  paused  here,  and  buried  in 
oblivion  political  -aspirations  and  animosities.  A  bright  career 
was  still  before  him  in  the  law.  Hamilton  had  won  great 
glory  this  very  spring,  by  defending  at  Albany,  before  the  Su 
preme  Court,  with  unparalleled  eloquence,  an  editor  who  had 
been  indicted  for  a  libel  on  the  President.  His  grand  object 
was,  by  annihilating  the  maxim,  "  The  greater  the  truth,  the 
greater  the  libel,"  to  establish  on  new  and  broad  foundations 
the  liberty  of  the  press.  "After  all,  came  the  powerful  Hamil. 
ton,"  wrote  a  correspondent  of  the  Evening  Post.  "  No  lan 
guage  can  convey  an  adequate  idea  of  the  astonishing  powers 
evinced  by  him.  The  audience  was  numerous,  and  though 


3ATHEB.  33* 

jor.posed  of  those  not  ude'i  to  the  melting  m^od,  tae  offe<it 
produced  on  them  was  eleccric.  *  *  *  As  a  correct  argu 
ment  for  a  lawyer,  it  was  very  imposing,  as  a  profound  com 
mentary  upon  the  science  and  practice  of  government,  it  has 
never  been  surpassed."  Here  was  glory  ;  here  was  triumph. 
Burr's  eminence  a'  tLe  bar  was  such  that,  on  all  cases  of  com- 
manding  interest,  he  was  the  man  likely  to  be  selected  to  op 
pose  Hamilton  or  to  aid  him. 

For  any  thing  that  is  now  known,  Burr  may  have  meant  to 
oonfine  himself  to  the  peaceful  triumphs  of  the  bar.  Bat, 
afos  I  the  curse  of  having  made  a  false  step  in  life  if,  tbjil  ft 
necessitates  worse ! 

15 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

THE     DUEL. 

IfeB  GENERAL  Jt  ROVOOATION  —  THE  PABTICULAB  PROVOCATION  —  THE  Hoe-nut  Co» 
BBSPOJTUENOit —  THE  CHALLENGE  GIVEN  AND  ACCEPTED —  HAMILTON'S  CONDUCT 
AND  BUBB'S  LETTERS  BEFORE  THE  MEETING  —  THE  BANQUET  OF  THE  CINOIHK  ATT  — • 
THE  LAST  WRITINGS  OF  HAMILTON  AND  BUB*  —  THE  DUELING  GROUND  —  Tm 
DUEL  —  EFFECT  ON  THE  PUBLIC  MIND  —  THE  CORONER'S  VERDICT  —  DB.  NOTT'C 
SBBJION  —  THE  MONUMENT  TO  HAMILTON  ON  THE  GBOUND. 

As  habit  is  second  nature,  dueling  must  formerly  Lave 
seemed  a  very  natural  mode  of  settling  personal  disputes,  for 
few  public  men  passed  through  life  without  being  concerned 
in,  at  least,  one  "  affair  of  honor."  Gates,  De  Witt  Clinton, 
Randolph,  Benton,  Clay,  Jackson,  Decatur,  Arnold,  Walpole, 
Pitt,  Wellington,  Canning,  Peel,  Grattan,  Fox,  Sheridan,  Jef 
frey,  Wilkes,  D'Israeli,  Lamartine,  Thiers,  and  scores  of  less 
famous  names,  are  found  in  Mr.  Sabine's*  list  of  duelists. 

In  all  that  curious  catalogue,  there  is  not  the  name  of  one 
>olitician  who  received  provocation  so  often-repeated,  so  irri 
gating,  and  so  injurious,  as  that  which  Aaron  Burr  had  re 
ceived  from  Alexander  Hamilton. 

Burr  was  not  a  man  to  resent  promptly  a  personal  injury, 
even  when  what  he  called  his  "  honor"  impelled  him  to  do  so. 
The  infidelity  of  a  comrade  cut  him  to  the  heart ;  to  be 
doubted  by  a  friend,  was,  as  he  once  said,  "  to  have  the  very 
•  sanctuary  of  happiness  invaded  ;"  the  disapproval  of  his  own 
set  he  would  have  felt  acutely.  But,  to  the  outcry  of  the 
outer  world  he  was  comparatively  indifferent,  and  the  inju 
rious  attemt)ts  of  enemies  he  usually  disregarded.  Aaron 
Burr,  whatever  faults  he  may  have  had  —  and  he  had  grievous 
and  radical  faults  —  was  not  a  revengeful  man  ;  there  has  sel 
dom  lived  one  who  was  less  so.  He  had  to  be  much  persuaded 
*  "  Notes  on  Duels  and  Dueling."  By  Lorenzo  Sabine. 


THE     DUEL.  339 

before  he  would  sue  Cheetham  for  libel,  and  the  suit  was  lan 
guidly  prosecuted.  Cheetham  himself,  in  January  of  this 
very  year,  1804,  had  taunted  him  for  allowing  Hamilton  to 
speak  and  write  of  him  as  it  was  then  notorious  he  was  in  the 
habit  of  doing.  "  Is  the  Vice-President  sunk  so  low,"  said 
this  wretched  calumniator,  "  as  to  submit  to  be  insulted  by 
General  Hamilton  ?" 

At  every  step  of  Burr's  political  career,  without  a  single 
exception,  Hamilton,  by  open  efforts,  by  secret  intrigue,  or 
by  both,  had  utterly  opposed  and  forbidden  his  advancement. 
He  had  injured  him  in  the  estimation  of  General  Washington. 
He  had  prevented  Mr.  Adams  from  giving  him  a  military  ap 
pointment.  His  letters,  for  years,  had  abounded  in  denun 
ciations  of  him,  as  severe  and  unqualified  as  the  language  of 
a  powerful  declaimer  could  convey.  From  Burr's  own  table, 
he  had  carried  away  the  unguarded  sallies  of  the  host  for  use 
against  the  political  opponent.  The  most  offensive  epithets 
and  phrases  he  had  so  habitually  applied  to  Burr,  that  they 
had  become  familiar  in  the  mouths  of  all  the  leading  Federal 
ists  ;  who,  as  the  reader  may  have  observed,  denounced  Colo-' 
nel  Burr  in  Hamilton's  own  words.  And,  finally,  he  had  just 
succeeded  in  frustrating  Burr's  keen  desire  for  vindication  at 
the  people's  hands ;  and,  in  doing  so,  had  made  it  only  too 
evident  to  all  the  influential  politicians,  that  for  the  success  of 
any  plans  of  political  advancement  which  Burr  might  in  fu 
ture  form,  it  was,  above  all  things  else,  essential  that  Hamil 
ton's  injurious  tongue  should  be  either  silenced  or  bridled. 

The  two  men  had  already  been  near  collision.  I  think  it 
was  in  1802  that  Colonel  Burr,  having  obtained  some  imper 
fect  knowledge  of  Hamilton's  usual  mode  of  characterizing 
him,  had  had  a  conversation  with  him  on  the  subject.  Ham 
ilton  (so  said  Burr  in  later  years),  had  explained,  apologized, 
satisfied  Burr,  and  left  upon  his  mind  the  impression,  never 
effaced,  that  thenceforth  Hamilton  was  pledged  to  refrain  from 
speaking  of  him  as  he  had  been  accustomed  to  do.  They 
parted  with  cordiality,  and  had  ever  since  been,  apparently, 
very  good  friends.  Burr  considered  then,  and  always,  that 
he  had  made  prodigious  sacrifice^  as  a  man  of  honor  and  a 


340  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

gentleman,  for  the  sake  of  avoiding  a  hostile  meeting  that 
could  not  but  injure  both  as  candidates  for  the  public  confi« 
dence.  From  the  hour  Burr  learned  that  Hamilton  still  used 
his  former  freedom,  he  ceased  to  respect  him ;  he  held  him  in 
contempt,  as  a  man  insensible  to  considerations  of  honor  and 
good  faith.  Burr's  new  Federal  friends,  renegades  from  the 
Hamiltonian  party,  had  given  him  new  information  respecting 
the  Burriphobia  under  which  their  former  leader  labored, 
and  the  language  in  which  it  was  accustomed  to  find  vent. 

Consider  the  force  of  another  circumstance  upon  a  mind 
like  Burr's,  whose  religion  was,  fidelity  to  comrades.  Men 
who  proudly  looked  up  to  him  as  more  than  their  political 
chief — as  the  preeminent  gentleman,  and  model  man  of  the 
world,  of  that  age  —  had  fought  in  his  quarrel,  and  fought  with 
a  reckless  courage  which  he  had  first  inspired,  and  then  com- 
manded.  If  the  occasion  should  arise,  could  chief  decline  the 
encounter  with  chief,  after  the  subalterns  had  so  gallantly  con- 
tended  ?  And  this  consideration  had  equal  weight  with  Ham 
ilton.  Beside  having  sanctioned  the  practice  of  dueling,  by 
serving  as  second  to  Colonel  Laurens  in  his  duel  with  General 
Lee,  his  own  son  had  fallen,  three  years  ago,  in  what  the  lan 
guage  of  that  day  called  the  vindication  of  his  father's  honor. 
In  short,  never,  since  the  duello  was  invented,  were  two  men, 
if  the  requisite  technical  provocation  should  arise,  so  peculiarly 
and  irresistibly  bound  to  fight,  as  were  Aaron  Burr  and  Alex 
ander  Hamilton  in  the  summer  of  1 804. 

During  the  late  election  for  governor,  a  letter  from  Dr. 
Charles  D.  Cooper  to  a  friend,  found  its  way  into  the  papers, 
which  contained  two  sentences  relating  to  Colonel  Burr.  One 
was  this : 

"  General  Hamilton  and  Judge  Kent  have  declared,  in  sub 
«tance,  that  they  looked  upon  Mr.  Burr  to  be  a  dangerous 
man,  and  one  who  ought  not  to  be  trusted  with  the  reins  of 
government." 

This  was  the  otlier :  "  I  cculd  detail  to  you  a  still  more  de» 
picable  opinion  which  General  Hamilton  has  expressed  of  Mr 
Burr." 


THE    DUEL.  341 

Siz  weeks  after  the  election,  the  paper  containing  this  letter 
was  put  into  Colonel  Burr's  hands,  and  his  attention  called  to 
the  allusions  to  himself. 

In  the  afternoon  of  June  17th,  Mr.  William  P,  Van  Ness, 
»ne  of  Burr's  staunchest  friends,  the  Aristides  of  the  pamphlet 
tvar  of  1802,  received  a  note  from  Colonel  Burr,  requesting 
1m  to  call  at  Richmond  Hill  on  the  following  morning.  He 
went.  At  the  request  of  Burr,  he  conveyed  Dr.  Cooper's  let 
ter  to  General  Hamilton,  with  the  most  offensive  passage 
marked,  and  a  note  from  Colonel  Burr,  which,  as  briefly  as 
possible,  called  attention  to  the  passage,  and  concluded  with 
the  following  words :  "  You  must  perceive,  sir,  the  necessity 
of  a  prompt  and  unqualified  acknowledgment  or  denial  of  the 
use  of  any  expressions  which  would  warrant  the  assertions  of 
Mr.  Cooper." 

Hamilton  was  taken  by  surprise.  He  had  not,  before  that 
Dioment,  seen  Cooper's  letter.  Having  read  it,  and  the  note 
of  Colonel  Burr,  he  said  that  they  required  consideration,  and 
he  would  send  an  answer  to  Mr.  Van  Ness's  office  (Van  Ness 
was  a  lawyer)  in  the  course  of  the  day.  Late  that  evening  he 
called  at  Mr.  Van  Ness's  residence,  and  told  him  that  a  presa 
of  business  had  prevented  his  preparing  a  reply,  and  would 
prevent  him  for  two  days  to  come ;  but  on  the  20th  he 
would  give  him  a  communication  for  Colonel  Burr. 

In  that  communication,  which  was  very  long,  Hamilton  de 
clined  making  the  acknowledgment  or  denial  that  Burr  had 
demanded.  Between  gentlemen,  he  said,  despicable  and  mort 
despicable  was  not  worth  the  pains  of  distinction.  He  could 
not  consent  to  be  interrogated  as  to  the  justice  of  the  in 
ferences  which  others  might  have  drawn  from  what  he  had 
*aid  of  an  opponent  during  fifteen  years'  competition.  But 
he  stood  ready  to  avow  or  disavow  explicitly  any  definite 
opinion  which  he  might  be  charged  with  having  expressed  re 
»pecting  any  gentleman.  He  trusted  that  Colonel  Burr,  upon 
farther  reflection,  would  see  the  matter  in  the  same  light.  If 
not,  he  could  only  regret  the  fact,  and  abide  the  conse 
quences. 

This  letter  was  oil  upon  the  flames  of  Burr's  indignation 


342  LIFE     OF     AARON    BUEK. 

His  reply  was  prompt  and  decided.  Hamilton's  letters  can 
generally  be  condensed  one  half  without  the  loss  of  an  idea, 
Burr's  compact  directness  defies  abbreviation  : 

"  Your  letter  of  the  20th  inst.,"  wrote  he,  "  has  been  this 
day  received.  Having  considered  it  attentively,  I  regret  to 
find  in  it  nothing  of  that  sincerity  and  delicacy  which  you  pro 
fess  to  value.  Political  opposition  can  never  absolve  gentle 
men  from  the  necessity  of  a  rigid  adherence  to  the  laws  of 
honor  and  the  rules  of  decorum.  I  neither  claim  such  privi 
lege  nor  indulge  it  in  others.  The  common  sense  of  mankind 
affixes  to  the  epithet  adopted  by  Dr.  Cooper  the  idea  of  dis 
honor.  It  has  been  publicly  applied  to  me  under  the  sanction 
of  your  name.  The  question  is  not,  whether  he  has  under 
stood  the  meaning  of  the  word,  or  has  used  it  according  to 
syntax,  and  with  grammatical  accuracy ;  but,  whether  you 
have  authorized  this  application,  either  directly  or  by  uttering 
expressions  or  opinions  derogatory  to  my  honor.  The  time 
'  when'  is  in  your  own  knowledge,  but  no  way  material  to  me, 
as  the  calumny  has  now  first  been  disclosed,  so  as  to  become 
the  subject  of  my  notice,  and  as  the  effect  is  present  and  pal 
pable.  Your  letter  has  furnished  me  with  new  reasons  for  re 
quiring  a  definite  reply." 

Hamilton  seems  to  have  read  his  doom  in  that  letter.  He 
said  to  Mr.  Yan  Ness,  who  brought  it,  that  it  was  such  a  letter 
as  he  had  hoped  not  to  receive  ;  it  contained  several  offensive 
expressions  ;  and  seemed  to  close  the  door  to. reply.  He  had 
hope_  that  Mr.  Burr  would  have  desired  him  to  state  what 
had  fallen  from  him  that  might  have  given  rise  to  the  infer 
ence  of  Dr.  Cooper.  He  would  have  done  that  frankly,  and 
he  believed  it  would  not  have  been  found  to  exceed  justifiable 
limits.  And  even  then,  if  Mr.  Burr  was  disposed  to  give 
another  turn  to  the  discussion,  he  was  willing  to  consider  hia 
last  letter  undelivered.  But  if  that  were  not  withdrawn,  he 
could  make  no  reply. 

Mr.  Van  Ness  detailed  these  ideas  to  Colonel  Burr,  ana 
Deceived  from  him  a  paper  of  instructions  to  guide  him  in 
replying,  verbally,  to  General  Hamilton.  This  paper  ex 
presses  with  force  and  exactness  the  view  of  this  affair  then 


THE     DUEL.  343 

taken,  and  always  adhered  to,  by  Colonel  Burr.  It  read  as 
follows : 

"  A.  Burr,  far  from  conceiving  that  rival  ship  authorizes  a 
latitude  not  otherwise  justifiable,  always  feels  greater  delicacy 
m  such  cases,  and  would  think  it  meanness  to  speak  of  a  rival 
but  in  terms  of  respect;  to  do  justice  to  his  merits;  to  be 
silent  of  his  foibles.  Such  has  invariably  been  his  conduct 
toward  Jay,  Adams,  and  Hamilton  ;  the  only  three  who  car. 
be  supposed  to  have  stood  in  that  relation  to  him. 

"  That  he  has  too  much  reason  to  believe  that,  in  regard  to 
Mr.  Hamilton,  there  has  been  no  reciprocity.  For  several 
years  his  name  has  been  lent  to  the  support  of  base  slanders. 
He  has  never  had  the  generosity,  the  magnanimity,  or  the 
candor  to  contradict  or  disavow.  Burr  forbears  to  particular 
ize,  as  it  could  only  tend  to  produce  new  irritations ;  but, 
having  made  great  sacrifices  for  the  sake  of  harmony  ;  having 
exercised  forbearance  until  it  approached  to  humiliation,  he 
has  seen  no  effect  produced  by  such  conduct  but  a  repetition 
of  injury.  He  is  obliged  to  conclude  that  there  is,  on  the 
part  of  Mr.  Hamilton,  a  settled  and  implacable  malevolence ; 
that  he  will  never  cease,  in  his  conduct  toward  Mr.  Burr,  to 
violate  those  courtesies  of  life  ;  and  that,  henca,  he  has  no  al 
ternative  but  to  announce  these  things  to  the  world ;  which, 
consistently  with  Mr.  Burr's  ideas  of  propriety,  can  be  done 
in  no  way  but  that  which  he  has  adopted.  He  is  incapable  of 
revenge,  still  less  is  he  capable  of  imitating  the  conduct  of  Mr. 
Hamilton,  by  committing  secret  depredations  on  his  fame  and 
character.  But  these  things  must  have  an  end." 

Upon  meeting  General  Hamilton  for  the  purpose  of  making 
the  above  explanation,  Mr.  Van  Ness  was  informed  by  him, 
that  he  had  prepared  a  written  reply  to  Colonel  Burr's  last 
letter,  and  had  left  it  in  the  hands  of  his  friend  Mr.  Pendleton. 
The  verbal  explanation  was  therefore  withheld,  and  General 
Hamilton's  letter  conveyed  to  Colonel  Burr.  It  was  as  fol- 
ows :  "  Your  first  letter,  in  a  stylfi  too  peremptory,  made  a 
.lemand,  in  my  opinioc,  unprecedented  and  unwarrantable. 
My  answer,  pointing  out  the  embarrassment,  gave  you  an  op- 
Dortunity  to  take  a  less  exceptionable  course.  You  have  nor 


344  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BURR. 

ohosen  to  do  it ;  but  by  your  last  letter  received  this  day,  con. 
taining  expressions  indecorous  and  improper,  you  have  in. 
creased  the  difficulties  to  explanation  intrinsically  incident  to 
the  nature  of  your  application.  If  by  a  '  definite  reply'  you 
mean  the  direct  avowal  or  disavowal  required  in  your  first 
letter,  I  have  no  other  answer  to  give,  than  that  which  has 
already  been  given.  If  you  mean  any  thing  different,  admit 
ting  of  greater  latitude,  it  is  requisite  you  should  explain." 

This  letter,  as  might  have  been  expected,  produced  no 
effect ;  as  Mr.  Van  Ness  hastened  to  inform  General  Hamil 
ton's  friend.  Van  Ness  added,  that  what  Colonel  Burr  de 
manded  was  this :  a  general  disavowal  of  any  intention  on  the 
part  of  General  Hamilton,  in  his  various  conversations,  to  con 
vey  impressions  derogatory  to  the  honor  of  Burr.  Pendleton 
replied,  that  he  believed  General  Hamilton  would  have  no 
objection  to  make  such  a  declaration! 

Hamilton,  of  course,  declined  making  the  disavowal.  But 
he  gave  Van  Ness  a  paper,  in  his  own  hand,  the  purport  of 
which  was  that  if  Colonel  Burr  should  think  it  proper  to  in« 
quire  of  General  Hamilton  the  nature  of  the  conversation  with 
Dr.  Cooper,  General  Hamilton  would  be  able  to  reply,  with 
truth,  that  it  turned  wholly  on  political  topics,  and  did  not 
attribute  to  Colonel  Burr  any  instance  of  dishonorable  con 
duct,  nor  relate  to  his  private  character.  And  in  relation  to 
any  other  conversation  which  Colonel  Burr  would  specify,  a 
frank  avowal  or  denial  would  be  given. 

A  "  mere  evasion,"  said  Burr,  when  he  had  read  this  paper. 

Other  correspondence  followed,  but  it  is  too  familiar  to  the 
•ublic,  and  too  easily  accessible,  to'  require  repetition  here, 
Throughout  the  whole  of  it  we  see,  on  the  one  hand,  an  ex 
asperated  man  resolved  to  bring  the  affair  to  a  decisive  and 
final  issue ;  on  the  other,  a  man  striving  desperately,  but  riot 
dishonorably,  to  escape  the  consequences  of  his  own  too  un 
garded  words.  Burr's  final  recapitulation,  drawn  up  for  th 
guidance  of  his  second,  was  as  follows : 

"  Colonel  Burr  (in  reply  to  General  Hamilton's  charge  of 
indefiniteness  and  inquisition)  would  only  say,  that  secret  whis* 
pers  traducing  his  fame,  and  impeaching  his  honor,  are  at  least 


THE     DUEL  345 

equally  injurious  with  slanders  publicly  uttered  ;  that  General 
Hamilton  had,  at  no  time,  and  in  no  place,  a  right  to  use  any 
such  injurious  expressions  ;  and  that  the  partial  negative  he  is 
disposed  to  give,  with  the  reservations  he  wishes  to  make,  arc 
proofs  that  he  has  done  the  injury  specified. 

"  Colonel  Burr's  request  was,  in  the  first  instance,  proposed 
in  a  form  the  most  simple,  in  order  that  General  Hamilton 
might  give  to  the  affair  that  course  to  which  he  might  be 
induced  by  his  temper  and  his  knowledge  of  facts.  Colonel 
Burr  trusted  with  confidence,  that,  from  the  frankness  of  a 
soldier  and  the  candor  of  a  gentleman,  he  might  expect  an 
ingenuous  declaration.  That  if,  as  he  had  reason  to  believe, 
General  Hamilton  had  used  expressions  derogatory  to  hia 
honor,  he  would  have  had  the  magnanim:\y  to  retract  them ; 
and  that  if,  from  his  language,  injurious  mferences  had  been 
improperly  drawn,  he  would  have  perceived  the  propriety  of 
correcting  errors,  which  might  thus  have  been  widely  diffused. 
With  these  impressions,  Colonel  Burr  was  greatly  surprised 
at  receiving  a  letter  which  he  considered  as  evasive,  and  which 
in  manner  he  deemed  not  altogether  decorous.  In  one  expec 
tation,  however,  he  was  not  wholly  deceived,  for  the  close  of 
General  Hamilton's  letter  contained  an  intimation  that,  if 
Colonel  Burr  should  dislike  his  refusal  to  acknowledge  or 
deny,  he  was  ready  to  meet  the  consequences.  This  Colonel 
Burr  deemed  a  sort  of  defiance,  and  would  have  felt  justified 
in  making  it  the  basis  of  an  immediate  message.  But  as  the 
communication  contained  something  concerning  the  indefinite- 
.  ess  of  the  request,  as  he  believed  it  rather  the  offspring  „»? 
false  pride  than  of  reflection,  and  as  he  felt  the  utmost  reluct 
ance  to  proceed  to  extremities,  while  any  other  hope  re- 
jiained,  his  request  was  repeated  in  terms  more  explicit.  The 
replies  and  propositions  on  the  part  of  General  Hamilton 
have,  in  Colonel  Burr's  opinion,  been  constantly  in  substance 
the  same. 

"  Colonel*  Burr  disavows  all  motives  of  predetermined  hos 
tility,  a  charge  by  which  he  thinks  insult  added  to  injury.  He 
feels  as  a  gentleman  should  feel  when  his  honor  is  impeached 
or  assailed ;  and,  without  sensations  of  hostility  or  wishas  of 

15* 


346  LIFE     OP     AARON    BURR. 

revenge,  he  is  determined  to  vindicate  that  honor  at  sucl 
hazard  as  the  nature  of  the  case  demands." 

The  letter  concluded  with  the  remark  that  the  length  and 
fruitlessness  of  the  correspondence  proved  it  useless  "  to  offer 
any  proposition,  except  the  simple  message  which  I  shall  now 
have  the  honor  to  deliver." 

The  challenge  was  then  given  and  accepted.  Ten  days  had 
elapsed  since  Colonel  Burr  had  first  sent  for  Mr.  Van  Ness, 
and  it  was  now  the  27th  of  June.  Mr.  Pendleton  stated  that 
a  court  was  then  sitting  in  which  General  Hamilton  had  much 
business  to  transact ;  he  would  require  also  a  little  time  to 
arrange  his  private  affairs;  and,  therefore,  some  delay  was 
unavoidable.  This  was  assented  to,  and  the  next  morning  ap 
pointed  for  a  meeting  of  the  seconds  to  confer  further  on  time 
and  place. 

At  that  meeting  Mr.  Pendleton  presented  a  paper  which, 
he  said,  he  had  received  from  his  principal,  and  which  con 
tained  some  remarks  upon  the  matters  in  dispute.  Van  Nesa 
replied  that,  if  the  paper  contained  a  specific  proposition  for 
an  accommodation,  he  would  i  eceive  it  with  pleasure ;  if  not, 
he  must  decline  doing  so,  as  his  principal  considered  the  cor 
respondence  completely  terminated  by  the  acceptance  of  the 
challenge.  Pendleton  replied  that  the  paper  contained  no 
such  proposition,  but  consisted  of  remarks  upon  Van  Ness's 
last  letter.  Mr.  Van  Ness,  therefore,  refused  to  receive  it,* 
and  Pendleton  retired,  promising  to  call  again  in  a  day  or  twc 
to  make  the  final  arrangements.  The  seconds  conferred  sev 
eral  times  before  these  were  concluded ;  but,  at  length,  July 

*  This  paper  was  an  earnest  endeavor,  on  the  part  of  General  Hamilton,  to 
\void  a  hostile  meeting.  The  material  passage  was  as  follows :  "  Mr.  Pen- 
ileton  is  authorized  to  say,  that  in  the  course  of  the  present  discussion,  writ 
ten  or  verbal,  there  has  been  no  intention  to  evade,  defy,  or  insult,  but  a  sin 
cere  disposition  to  avoid  extremities,  if  it  could  be  done  with  propriety.  "With 
this  view  General  Hamilton  has  been  ready  to  enter  into  a  frank  and  free  ex 
planation  on  any  and  every  object  of  a  specific  nature ;  but  not  to  answer  a 
general  and  abstract  inquiry,  embracing  a  period  too  long  for  any  accurate 
recollection,  and  exposing  him  to  unpleasant  criticismo  from,  or  unpleasant 
discussions  with,  any  and  every  person  who  may  have  understood  him  in  at 
infavorable  sense  " 


THE     DUEL.  347 

1 1th,  at  seven  in  the  morning,  was  fixed  upon  as  the  time; 
the  place,  Weehawken  ;  the  weapons,  pistols ;  the  distance, 
ten  paces.  Thus,  between  the  time  when  Colonel  Burr  sent 
for  Van  Ness  and  the  day  appointed  for  the  meeting,  twenty- 
four  days  elapsed,  during  the  greater  part  of  which  the  secret 
was  known,  certainly,  to  seven  persons,  and,  probably,  to  as 
many  as  ten. 

During  this  long  period,  the  principals  went  about  their 
daily  business  as  usual.  Hamilton,  as  was  afterward  fondly 
remembered,  plead  his  causes  and  consulted  his  clients,  with 
all  his  wonted  vigor,  courtesy,  and  success.  Around  his  table 
at  the  "  Grange,"  day  after  day,  he  saw  his  seven  children  and 
his  tenderly  beloved  wife,  with  a  ceaseless  consciousness  of 
the  blow  that  was  suspended  over  them  all.  A  whisper  could 
have  saved  him,  and  saved  them,  but  how  impossible  it  was  to 
utter  that  whisper ! 

Burr  was  residing  at  cedar-crowned  Richmond  Hill,  and 
found  the  great  mansion  there  somewhat  lone  and  chilly.  On 
June  23d  (the  very  day  upon  which  it  became  certain  that 
the  affair  with  Hamilton  could  only  be  terminated  by  a  duel) 
Theodosia's  birth-day  came  round  again,  a  day  on  which  Rich 
mond  Hill,  for  many  a  year,  had  known  only  the  sights  and 
sounds  of  happiness  and  mirth.  Burr  was  an  observer  of  fete 
days  and  family  festivals.  On  this  occasion,  he  invited  a  party 
to  dinner,  who,  as  he  wrote  the  next  day  to  Theodosia, 
"  laughed  an  hour,  and  danced  an  hour,  and  drank  her  health." 
He  had  her  picture  brought  into  the  dining-room  and  placed 
at  the  table  where  she  was  accustomed  to  sit.  But,  added  he, 
"  as  it  is  a  profile,  and  would  not  look  at  us,  we  hung  it  up 
and  placed  Natalie's  (his  adopted  daughter)  at  table,  which 
laughs  and  talks  with  us."  The  letter  in  which  these  particu 
lars  are  given  is  remarkable  for  containing  a  suggestion  which 
as  since  been  admirably  improved.  "  Your  idea,"  wrote  he, 
K  of  dressing  up  pieces  of  ancient  mythology  in  the  form  of 
amusing  tales  for  children  is  very  good.  You  yourself  must 
write  them.  Send  your  performances  to  me,  and,  within  three 
tfeeks  after  they  are  received,  you  shall  have  them  again  in 
>riLt.  This  will  be  not  only  an  amusing  occupation,  but  s 


348  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BURR. 

very  useful  one  to  yourself.  It  will  improve  your  style  and 
your  language,  give  you  habits  of  accuracy,  and  add  a  little 
to  your  stock  of  knowledge.  Natalie,  too,  must  work  at  it, 
and  I'll  bet  that  she  makes  the  best  tale.  I  will  be  your  ed 
itor  and  your  critic."  The  reader  is  aware  how  well  this 
*  idea"  has  since  been  carried  out  by  Mr.  Kingsley  and  others. 

His  letters  to  his  daughter,  at  this  period,  contain  but  a  sin 
gle  allusion,  and  that  a  vague  one,  to  the  impending  conflict, 
On  the  1st  of  July,  he  began  a  letter  with  these  words : 

"  Having  been  shivering  with  cold  all  day,  though  in  perfect 
health,  I  have  now,  just  at  sunset,  had  a  fire  in  my  library, 
and  am  sitting  near  it  and  enjoying  it,  if  that  word  be  appli 
cable  to  any  thing  done  in  solitude.  Some  very  wise  man, 
However,  has  exclaimed, 

" '  Oh  I  fools,  who  think  it  solitude  to  be  alone.' 

This  /s  but  poetry.  Let  us  therefore  drop  the  subject,  lest  it 
lead  to  another  on  which  I  have  imposed  silence  on  myself." 

The  rest  of  the  letter  is  cheerful  enough.  He  says  he  is  im 
patient  to  receive  the  "  Tales,"  >*ecommends  her  to  subscribe 
for  the  Edinburg  Review,  and  to  be  forming  a  library  for  her 
eon. 

On  the  Fourth  of  July,  Hamilton  and  Burr  met,  for  the  last 
time,  at  the  convivial  board.  It  was  at  the  annual  banquet 
3f  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  of  which  Hamilton  was  presi 
dent  and  Burr  a  member.  Hamilton  was  cheerful,  and,  at 
times,  merry.  He  was  urged,  as  the  feast  wore  away,  to  sing 
the  only  song  he  ever  sang  or  knew,  the  famous  old  ballad  of 
The  Drum.  It  was  thought  afterward,  that  he  was  more  re- 
uctant  than  usual  to  comply  with  the  company's  request; 
out  after  some  delay,  he  said,  "  Well,  you  shall  have  it,"  and 
gang  it  in  his  best  manner,  greatly  to  the  delight  of  the  old 
*oldiers  by  whom  he  was  surrounded.  Burr,  on  the  contrary 
was  reserved,  mingled  little  with  the  company,  and  held  no  in 
lercourse  with  the  president.  He  was  never  a  fluent  man 
and  was  generally,  in  the  society  of  men,  more  a  listener  than 
a,  talker.  On  this  occasion,  his  silent  was,  therefore,  the  less 


THE     DUEL  349 

remarked ,  yet  it  was  remarked.  It  was  observed,  too>  that 
he  paid  no  attention  to  Hamilton's  conversation,  nor,  indeed, 
looked  toward  him,  until  he  struck  up  his  song,  when  Bu?r 
turned  toward  him,  and,  leaning  upon  the  table,  looked  at 
the  singei  till  the  song  was  done. 

This  difference  in  the  behavior  of  the  two  men  was  doubt' 
less  owing  partly  to  their  different  positions  at  the  banquet. 
Hamilton,  as  the  master  of  the  feast,  was  in  the  eye  of  every 
guest,  while  Burr  could  easily  escape  particular  observation. 
The  object  of  both  was,  of  course,  to  behave  so  as  not  to  ex 
cite  inquiry. 

On  the  9th  of  July,  Hamilton  executed  his  will,  leaving  his 
all,  after  the  payment  of  his  debts,  to  his  '  dear  and  excellent 
wife.'  "  Should  it  happen,"  said  he,  "  that  there  is  not  enough 
for  the  payment  of  my  debts,  I  entreat  my  dear  children,  if 
they,  or  any  of  them,  should  ever  be  able,  to  make  up  the 
deficiency.  I,  without  hesitation,  commit  to  their  delicacy  a 
wish  which  is  dictated  by  my  own.  Tliough  conscious  that  I 
have  too  far  sacrificed  the  interests  of  my  family  to  public 
avocations,  and  on  this  account  have  the  less  claim  to  burden 
my  children,  yet  I  trust  in  their  magnanimity  to  appreciate  aa 
they  ought  this  my  request.  In  so  unfavorable  an  event  of 
things,  the  support  of  their  dear  mother,  with  the  most  re 
spectful  and  tender  attention,  is  a  duty,  all  the  sacredness  of 
which  they  will  feel.  Probably  her  own  patrimonial  resources 
will  preserve  her  from  indigence.  But  in  all  situations  they 
are  charged  to  bear  in  mind,  that  she  has  been  to  them  tht 
most  devoted  and  best  of  mothers." 

A  few  hours  more  brought  them  to  the  day  before  the  one 
named  for  the  meeting.  In  the  evening,  both  the  principals 
vere  engaged,  to  a  late  hour,  in  making  their  final  prepara- 
-ons,  and  writing  what  each  felt  might  be  his  last  written 
words.  The  paper  prepared  by  Hamilton  on  that  occasion, 
in  the  solitude  of  his  library,  reveals  to  us  the  miserable  spec 
tacle  of  an  intelligent  and  gifted  man,  who  had,  with  the  ut 
most  deliberation,  made  up  his  mind  to  do  an  action  which 
nis  intellect  condemned  as  absurd,  which  his  heart  felt  to  be 
•\ruel,  which  his  conscience  to^d  him  was  wrong.  He  said  that 


350  LIFE     OF     AARON     BUEB. 

He  had  shrunk  from  the  coming  interview.  His  duty  to  his 
religion,  his  family,  and  his  creditors,  forbade  it.  He  should 
hazard  much,  and  could  gain  nothing  by  it.  He  was  conscious 
of  no  ill  will  to  Colonel  Burr,  apart  from  political  opposition ; 
which  he  hopec*  had  proceeded  from  pure  and  upright  mo 
tives.  But  there  were  difficulties,  intrinsic  and  artificial,  in 
the  way  of  an  accommodation,  which  had  seemed  insuperable  : 
intrinsic,  because  he  really  had  been  very  severe  upon  Colo 
nel  Burr ;  artificial,  because  Colonel  Burr  had  demanded  too 
much,  and  in  a  manner  that  precluded  a  peaceful  discussion 
of  the  difficulty. 

"  As  well,"  this  affecting  paper  concluded,  "  because  it  is  pos 
sible  that  I  may  have  injured  Colonel  Burr,  however  convinced 
myself  that  my  opinions  and  declarations  have  been  well 
founded,  as  from  my  general  principles  and  temper  in  relation 
to  similar  affairs,  I  have  resolved,  if  our  interview  is  conducted 
in  the  usual  manner,  and  it  pleases  God  to  give  me  the  oppor 
tunity,  to  reserve  and  throw  away  my  first  fire,  and  I  have 
thoughts  even  of  reserving  my  second  fire,  and  thus  giving  a 
double  opportunity  to  Colonel  Burr  to  pause  and  to  reflect. 
It  is  not,  however,  my  intention  to  enter  into  any  explanations 
on  the  ground.  Apology,  from  principle,  I  hope,  rather  than 
pride,  is  out  of  the  question.  To  those  who,  with  me,  abhor 
ring  the  practice  of  dueling,  may  think  that  I  ought  on  no 
account  to  have  added  to  the  number  of  bad  examples,  I  an 
swer,  that  my  relative  situation,  as  well  in  public  as  in  private, 
enforcing  all  the  considerations  which  constitute  what  men  of 
the  world  denominate  honor,  imposed  on  me  (as  I  thought)  a 
peculiar  necessity  not  to  decline  the  call.  The  ability  to  be 
in  the  future  useful,  whether  in  resisting  mischief  or  effecting 
good,  in  those  crises  of  our  public  affairs  which  seem  likely  to 
Dappen,  would  probably  be  inseparable  from  a  conformity  with 
public  prejudice  in  this  particular." 

Doing  evil  that  good  may  come,  though  not  the  crime  it  is 
Co  do  good  that  evil  may  come,  is  a  dreadful  error.  It  was 
the  vice  of  Hamilton's  otherwise  worthy  life.  It  proved  fata, 
to  him  at  last. 

In  the  long  letters  which  Burr  wrote  that  evening,  there 


1HE     DUEL.  351 

are  no  signs  that  the  gentle  blood  of  Esther  Edwards  was 
revolting  in  the  veins  of  her  erring  son  against  the  morrow's 
d  ^ed.  There  is  a  tender  dignity  in  his  farewell  words  to  The- 
odosia,  but  no  misgivings.  He  gives  her  a  number  of  minute 
directions  about  the  disposal  of  his  papers,  letters,  and  serv 
ants.  She  was  enjoined  to  burn  all  such  letters  as,  if  by  acci 
dent  made  public,  would  injure  any  person.  This,  he  added, 
was  more  particularly  applicable  to  the  letters  of  his  female 
correspondents.  To  his  step-son,  "poor  dear  Frederic,"  to 
Natalie,  to  various  friends,  he  requested  her  to  give  certain 
tokens  of  his  remembrance.  His  faithful  housekeeper,  Peggy, 
was  to  have  a  lot  of  ground  and  fifty  dollars,  and  the  other 
servants  Theodosia  was  urged  to  adopt  as  her  own.  His  letter 
concludes  with  these  touching  words:  "I  am  indebted  to 
you,  my  dearest  Theodosia,  for  a  very  great  portion  of  the 
happiness  which  I  have  enjoyed  in  this  life.  You  have  com 
pletely  satisfied  all  that  my  heart  and  affections  had  hoped  or 
even  wished.  With  a  little  more  perseverance,  determination, 
and  industry,  you  will  obtain  all  that  my  ambition  or  vanity 
had  fondly  imagined.  Let  your  son  have  occasion  to  be  proud 
that  he  had  a  mother.  Adieu.  Adieu." 

In  a  postscript,  he  tells  her,  upon  her  arrival  in  New  York, 
to  open  her  whole  heart  to  his  step-son,  Frederic,  who  loves 
him,  he  says,  almost  as  much  as  Theodosia  does,  and  loves 
Theodosia  to  adoration.  He  also  gives  her  a  seal  of  General 
Washington's,  which  he  possessed,  and  says  she  may  keep  it 
for  her  son,  or  give  it  to  whom  she  pleases. 

He  wrote  a  long  letter  to  her  husband,  recommending  to 
his  regard  and  care  the  friends  to  whom  he  was  most  attached. 
"  If  it  should  be  my  lot  to  fall,"  he  said,  in  conclusion,  "  yet 
I  shall  live  in  you  and  your  son.  I  commit  to  you  all  that  ia 
most  dear  to  me  —  my  reputation  and  my  daughter.  Your 
talents  and  your  attachment  will  be  the  guardian  of  the  one 
—  your  kindness  and  your  generosity  of  the  other.  Let  me 
intreat  you  to  stimulate  and  aid  Theodosia  in  the  cultivation 
of  her  mind.  It  is  indispensable  to  her  happiness,  and  essen 
tial  to  yours.  It  is  also  of  the  utmost  importance  to  you? 
ion.  She  would  presently  acquire  a  critical  knowledge  ot 


352  LIFE     OP     AARON     BURR. 

Latin,  English,  and  all  branches  of  natural  philosophy.  All 
this  would  be  poured  into  your  son.  If  you  should  differ 
with  me  as  to  the  importance  of  this  measure,  suffer  me  to 
ask  it  of  you  as  a  last  favor.  She  will  richly  compensate  your 
trouble." 

Two  very  characteristic  postscripts  are  appended  to  this 
letter.  In  the  first,  he  commends  to  Mr.  Alston's  special  re 
gard,  Frederic  Prevost.  "Under  the  garb  of  coarse  rustic 
ity  you  will  find,  if  you  know  him,  refinement,  wit,  a  delicate 
sense  of  propriety,  the  most  inflexible  intrepidity,  incorrupti 
ble  integrity,  and  disinterestedness.  I  wish  you  could  know 
him ;  but  it  would  be  difficult,  by  reason  of  his  diffidence  and 
great  reluctance  to  mingle  with  the  world.  It  has  been  a 
source  of  extreme  regret  and  mortification  to  me  that  he 
should  be  lost  to  society  and  to  his  friends.  The  case  seems 
almost  remediless,  for,  alas  !  he  is  married  /" 

The  other  postscript  was  as  follows :  "  If  you  can  pardon 

and  indulge  a  folly,  I  would  suggest  that  Madame ,  too 

well  known  under  the  name  of  Leonora,  has  claims  on  my 
recollection.  She  is  now  with  her  husband  at  St.  Jago,  oi 
Cuba." 

Late  at  night  Colonel  Burr  threw  off  his  upper  garments, 
lay  down  upon  a  couch  in  his  library,  and,  in  a  few  minutes, 
was  asleep. 

At  daybreak,  next  morning,  John  Swartwout  entered  the 
room,  and  saw  his  chief  still  lying  on  the  couch.  Well  as  he 
knew  Colonel  Burr,  he  was  astonished,  upon  approaching  him, 
to  discover  that  he  was  in  a  sound  and  tranquil  slumber.  He 
awoke  the  man  who  had  better  never  again  have  opened  his 
eyes  upon  the  light  of  this  world.  Van  Ness  was  soon  ready. 
Matthew  L.  Davis  and  another  friend  or  two  arrived,  and  the 
party  proceeded  in  silence  to  the  river,  where  a  boat  was  in 
readiness.  Burr,  Van  Ness,  Davis,  and  another  embarked, 
and  the  boat  was  rowed  over  the  river  toward  Weehawken, 
the  scene,  in  those  days,  of  so  many  deadly  encounters. 

Few  of  the  present  generation  have  stood  upon  the  spot, 
which  was  formerly  one  of  the  places  that  strangers  were  sure 
"o  visit  on  coming  to  the  city,  and  which  the  events  of  this 


THE     DUEL.  353 

day  rendered  for  ever  memorable.  Two  miles  and  a  half 
above  the  city  of  Hoboken,  the  heights  of  Weehawken  rise, 
in  the  picturesque  form  so  familiar  to  New  Yorkers,  to  an  el 
evation  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  the  Hudson.  These 
heights  are  rocky,  very  steep,  and  covered  with  small  trees 
and  tangled  bushes.  Under  the  heights,  at  a  point  half  a  mile 
from  where  they  begin,  there  is,  twenty  feet  above  the  water 
a  grassy  ledge  or  shelf,  about  six  feet  wide,  and  eleven  paces 
long.  This  was  the  fatal  spot.  Except  that  it  is  slightly  en 
cumbered  with  underbrush,  it  is,  at  this  hour,  precisely  what 
it  was  on  the  llth  of  July,  1804.  There  is  an  old  cedai-tree 
at  the  side,  a  little  out  of  range,  which  must  have  looked  then 
very  much  as  it  does  now.  The  large  rocks  which  partly  hem 
in  the  place  are,  of  course,  unchanged,  except  that  they  are 
decorated  with  the  initials  of  former  visitors.  One  large  rock, 
breast-high,  narrows  the  hollow  in  which  Hamilton  stood  to 
four  feet  or  less. 

Inaccessible  to  foot-passengers  along  the  river,  except  at  low 
tide,  with  no  path  down  to  it  from  the  rocky  heights  above, 
no  residence  within  sight  on  that  side  of  the  river,  unless  at  a 
great  distance,  it  is  even  now  a  singularly  secluded  scene. 
But  fifty  years  ago,  when  no  prophet  had  yet  predicted  Hobo- 
ken,  that  romantic  shore  was  a  nearly  unbroken  solitude.  A 
third  of  a  mile  below  the  dueling-ground  there  stood  a  little 
tavern,  the  occasional  resort  of  excursionists ;  where,  too,  du 
eling  parties  not  unfrequently  breakfasted  before  proceeding 
to  the  ground,  and  where  they  sometimes  returned  to  invig 
orate  their  restored  friendship  with  the  landlord's  wine.  A 
short  distance  above  the  ground,  lived  a  fine-hearted  old 
Captain,  who,  if  he  got  scent  of  a  duel,  would  rush  to  the 
place,  throw  himself  between  the  combatants,  and  never  give 
over  persuading  and  threatening  till  he  had  established  a 
peace  or  a  truce  between  them.  He  was  the  owner  of  the 
ground,  and  spoke  with  authority.  He  never  ceased  to  think 
Uiat,  if  on  this  fatal  morniror,  he  had  observed  the  approach 
of  the  boats,  he  could  have  prevented  the  subsequent  catas 
trophe, 

Hut,  for  the  very  purpose  of  preventing  suspicion,  it  had 


354  LIFE     OP     AAEON     BURR. 

been  arranged  that  Colonel  Burr's  boat  should  arrive  some 
time  before  the  other.  About  half-past  six,  Burr  and  Van 
Ness  landed,  and  leaving  their  boat  a  few  yards  down  the 
river,  ascended  over  the  rocks  to  the  appointed  place.  It  was 
a  warm,  bright,  July  morning.  The  sun  looks  down,  directly 
after  rising,  upon  the  Weehawken  heights,  and  it  was  for  that 
reason  that  the  two  men  removed  their  coats  before  the  ar- 
r.val  of  the  other  party.  There  they  stood  carelessly  break 
ing  away  the  branches  of  the  underwood,  and  looking  out 
upon  as  fair,  as  various,  as  animated,  as  beautiful  a  scene,  as 
mortal  eyes  in  this  beautiful  world  ever  behold.  The  haze- 
crowned  city ;  the  bright,  broad,  flashing,  tranquil  river  ;  the 
long  reach  of  waters,  twelve  miles  or  more,  down  to  the  Nar 
rows  ;  the  vessels  at  anchor  in  the  harbor  ;  misty,  blue  Staten 
Island,  swelling  up  in  superb  contour  from  the  lower  bay  ;  the 
verdant  flowery  heights  around  ;  the  opposite  shore  of  the 
river,  then  dark  with  forest,  or  bright  with  sloping  lawn  ;  and, 
to  complete  the  picture,  that  remarkably  picturesque  promon 
tory  called  Castle  Point,  that  bends  out  far  into  the  stream,  a 
mile  below  Weehawken,  and  adds  a  peculiar  beauty  to  the 
foreground  ;  —  all  these  combine  to  form  a  view,  one  glance 
at  which  ought  to  have  sent  shame  and  horror  to  the  duelist's 
heart,  that  so  much  as  the  thought  of  closing  a  human  being's 
eyes  for  ever  on  so  much  loveliness,  had  ever  lived  a  moment 
in  his  bosom. 

Hamilton's  boat  was  seen  to  approach.  A  few  minutes  be- 
"ore  seven  it  touched  the  rocks,  and  Hamilton  and  his  second 
ascended.  The  principals  and  seconds  exchanged  the  usual 
salutations,  and  the  seconds  proceeded  immediately  to  make 
the  usual  preparations.  They  measured  ten  full  paces  ;  then 
cast  lots  for  the  choice  of  position,  and  to  decide  who  should 
give  the  word.  The  lot,  in  both  cases,  fell  to  General  Hamil 
ton's  second,  who  chose  the  upper  end  of  the  ledge  for  his 
principal,  which,  at  that  hour  of  the  day,  could  not  have  been 
the  best,  for  the  reason  that  the  morning  sun,  and  the  flashing 
of  the  river,  would  both  interfere  with  the  sight.  The  pistols 
were  then  loaded,  and  the  principals  placed,  Hamilton  looking 
over  the  river  toward  the  city,  and  Burr  turned  toward  the 


7  HE     DUEL.  355 

weights,  under  which  they  stood.  As  Pendleton  gave  Hainil 
ton  his  pistol,  he  asked, 

"  Will  you  have  the  hair-spring  set  ?" 

"  Not  this  time?  was  the  quiet  reply. 

Pendleton  then  explained  to  both  principals  the  rules  which 
had  been  agreed  upon  with  regard  to  the  firing;  after  the 
word  present,  they  were  to  fire  as  soon  as  they  pleased.  The 
seconds  then  withdrew  to  the  usual  distance. 

"Are  you  ready,"  said  Pendleton. 

Both  answered  in  the  affirmative.  A  moment's  pause  en 
sued.  The  word  was  given.  Burr  raised  his  pistol,  took  aim.; 
and  fired.  Hamilton  sprang  upon  his  toes  with  a  convulsive 
movement,  reeled  a  little  toward  the  heights,  at  which  mo 
ment  he  involuntarily  discharged  his  pistol,  and  then  fell  for 
ward  headlong  upon  his  face,  and  remained  motionless  on  the 
ground.  His  ball  rustled  among  the  branches,  seven  feet 
above  the  head  of  his  antagonist,  and  four  feet  wide  of  him. 
Burr  heard  it,  looked  up,  and  saw  where  it  had  severed  a  twig. 
Looking  at  Hamilton,  he  beheld  him  filling,  and  sprang  toward 
him  with  an  expression  of  pain  upon  his  face.  But  at  the  re 
port  of  the  pistols,  Dr.  Hosack,  Mr.  Davis,  and  the  boatman, 
hurried  anxiously  up  the  rocks  to  the  scene  of  the  duel ;  and 
Van  Ness,  with  presence  of  mind,  seized  Burr,  shielded  him 
from  observation  with  an  umbrella,  and  urged  him  down 
the  steep  to  the  boat.  It  was  pushed  off  immediately,  and 
rowed  swiftly  back  to  Richmond  Hill,  where  Swartwout,  with 
feelings  that  may  be  imagined,  received  his  unhurt  chief —  a 
chief  no  more  ! 

Mr.  Pendleton  raised  his  prostrate  friend.  Dr.  Hosack 
found  him  sitting  on  the  grass,  supported  in  the  arms  of  hia 
eecond,  with  the  ghastliness  of  death  upon  his  countenance, 
u  This  is  a  mortal  wound,  doctor,"  he  gasped ;  and  then  sunk 
away  into  a  swoon.  The  doctor  stripped  up  his  clothes,  and 
law  at  a  glance  that  the  ball,  which  had  entered  his  right  side, 
must  have  penetrated  a  mortal  part.  Scarcely  expecting  him 
to  revive,  they  conveyed  him  down  among  the  large  rocks,  to 
the  shore,  placed  him  tenderly  in  the  boat,  and  set  off  for  the 
lity.  The  doctor  now  used  the  us-val  restoratives,  ardthe 


350  LIFE     OP     AARON     BURR. 

wounded  man  gradually  revived.  "  He  breathed,"  to  quote 
the  doctor's  words;  "his  eyes,  hardly  opened,  wandered 
without  fixing  upon  any  object ;  to  our  great  joy,  he  at  length 
spoke.  '  My  vision  is  indistinct,'  were  his  first  words.  His 
pulse  became  more  perceptible,  his  respiration  more  regular,  his 
sight  returned.  Soon  after  recovering  his  sight,  he  happened 
to  cast  his  eye  upon  the  case  of  pistols,  and  observing  the  one 
that  he  had  had  in  his  hand  lying  on  the  outside,  he  said,  '  Take 
oare  of  that  pistol ;  it  is  undischarged  and  still  cocked ;  it  may 
go  off  and  do  harm.  Pendleton  knows'  (attempting  to  turn 
his  head  toward  him)  '  that  I  did  not  intend  to  fire  at  him.' 

"  Then  he  lay  tranquil  till  he  saw  that  the  boat  was  approach 
ing  the  wharf.  He  said,  '  Let  Mrs.  Hamilton  be  immediately 
sent  for ;  let  the  event  be  gradually  broke  to  her,  but  give  her 
hopes.'  Looking  up  we  saw  his  friend,  Mr.  Bayard,  standing 
on  the  wharf  in  great  agitation.  He  had  been  told  by  his  ser 
vant  that  General  Hamilton,  Mr.  Pendleton,  and  myself  had 
crossed  the  river  in  a  boat  together,  and  too  well  he  conjec 
tured  the  fatal  errand,  and  foreboded  the  dreadful  result. 
Perceiving,  as  we  came  nearer,  that  Mr.  Pendleton  and  myself 
only  sat  up  in  the  stern  sheets,  he  clasped  his  hands  together 
in  the  most  violent  apprehension ;  but  when  I  called  to  him 
to  have  a  cot  prepared,  and  he  at  the  same  moment  saw  his 
poor  friend  lying  in  the  bottom  of  the  boat,  he  threw  up  his 
eyes,  and  burst  into  a  flood  of  tears  and  lamentation.  Hamil 
ton  alone  appeared  tranquil  and  composed.  We  then  con 
veyed  him  as  tenderly  as  possible  up  to  the  house.*  The  dis 
tress  of  his  amiable  family  were  such  that,  till  the  first  shock 
had  abated,  they  were  scarcely  able  to  summon  fortitude 
enough  to  yield  sufficient  assistance  to  their  dying  friend.' " 

By  nine  in  the  morning  the  news  began  to  be  noised  about 
in  the  city.  A  bulletin  soon  appeared  on  the  board  at  the 
Tontine  Coffee  House,  and  the  pulse  of  the  town  stood  still 
at  the  shocking  intelligence.  People  started  and  turned  pal« 
ts  they  read  the  brief  announcement : 

*  Hamilton's  town  residence  was  62  Cedar-street ;  Burr's,  30  PartitioB* 
Itreet  (now  Fulton).  Bayard's  house,  to  which  Hamilton  was  taken,  wa| 
at  Greenwich,  within  half  a  mile  of  Richmond  Hill. 


THE     DUEL.  357 

"  GENERAL  HAMILTON  WAS  SHOP  BY  COLONEL  BURR  THIS 

MORNING  IN  A  DUEL.      THE  GENERAL   IS   SAID  TO  BE  MORTALLY 
WOUNDED." 

Bulletins,  hourly  changed,  kept  the  city  in  agitation.  All 
the  circumstances  of  the  catastrophe  were  told,  and  retold, 
and  exaggerated  at  every  corner.  The  thrilling  scenes  that 
were  passing  at  the  bedside  of  the  dying  man  —  the  consulta 
tions  of  the  i  tysicians  —  the  arrival  of  the  stricken  family  — 
Mrs.  Hamilton's  overwhelming  sorrow — the  resignation  and 
calm  dignity  of  the  illustrious  sufferer  —  his  broken  slumbers 
during  the  night  —  the  piteous  spectacle  of  the  seven  children 
entering  together  the  awful  apartment  —  the  single  look  the 
dying  father  gave  them  before  he  closed  his  eyes  —  were  all 
described  with  amplifications,  and  produced  an  impression  that 
can  only  be  imagined.  He  lingered  thirty-one  hours.  The 
duel  was  fought  on  Wednesday  morning.  At  two  o'clock,  on 
Thursday  afternoon,  Hamilton  died. 

A  notice  was  immediately  posted  for  a  meeting  of  the  mer 
chants,  at  the  Tontine  Coffee  House,  that  evening  ;  when  they 
resolved  to  close  their  stores  on  the  day  of  the  funeral,  to 
order  all  the  flags  of  the  shipping  at  half  mast,  and  to  wear 
crape  for  thirty  days.  The  bar  met  next  morning,  and  agreed 
to  go  into  mourning  for  six  weeks.  The  military  companies, 
the  students  of  Columbia  College,  the  Tammany  Society,  the 
Cincinnati,  the  St.  Andrew's  Society,  the  General  Society  of 
Mechanics,  the  Corporation  of  the  city,  all  passed  resolutions 
of  sorrow  and  condolence,  and  agreed  to  attend  the  funeral. 
On  Saturday,  the  funeral  took  place.  Business  was  utterly 
suspended.  The  concourse  in  the  streets  was  unprecedented. 
The  cortege  comprised  all  the  magnates  of  the  city,  and  nearly 
every  body  of  men  that  had  a  corporate  existence.  The 
friends  and  partisans  of  Colonel  Burr  made  it  a  point  to  test 
ify,  by  their  presence  in  the  procession,  that  they  shared  in  the 
general  respect  for  the  fallen  statesman,  and  in  the  general 
sorrow  at  his  untimely  end.  While  the  procession  was  mov 
ing,  the  minute-guns  of  the  artillery  in  the  Park  and  at  the 
Battery,  were  answered  by  minute  guns  from  a  British  frigate, 
the  British  packet,  and  tw<\  French  men-of-war  that  lay  at 


358  LIFE     OF     AABON     BURR. 

anchor  in  the  harbor.  For  two  hours,  the  booming  of  so 
many  guns  deepened  the  melancholy  of  the  occasion.  Gov 
ernor  Morris,  on  a  platform  at  Trinity  Church,  pronounced  a 
brief  eulogium,  which  penetrated  every  heart ;  for  on  the 
game  platform  stood  the  four  sons  of  the  departed,  the  eldes* 
sixteen,  the  youngest,  four. 

The  newspapers,  everywhere,  broke  into  declamation  upon 
these  sad  events.  I  suppose  that  the  "  poems,"  the  "  elegies," 
and  the  "lines,"  which  they  suggested  would  fill  a  duodecimo 
volume  of  the  size  usually  appropriated  to  verse.  In  the  chief 
cities,  the  character  of  the  deceased  was  made  the  subject  of 
formal  eulogium.  The  popular  sympathy  was  recorded  indeli 
bly  upon  the  ever-forming  map  of  the  United  States,  which 
bears  the  name  of  Hamilton  forty  times  repeated. 

The  funeral  solemnities  over,  the  public  feeling  took  the 
character  of  indignation  against  the  immediate  author  of  all 
this  sorrow  and  ruin.  In  a  few  days  the  correspondence  was 
published,  and  from  that  hour  Burr  became,  in  the  general 
estimation  of  the  people,  a  name  of  horror.  Those  prelimi 
nary  letters,  read  by  a  person  ignorant  of  the  former  history 
of  the  two  men,  are  entirely  damning  to  the  memory  of  the 
challenger.  They  present  Burr  in  the  light  of  a  revengeful 
demon,  burning  for  an  innocent  victim's  blood.  Read  aright 
—  read  by  one  who  knows  intimately  what  had  gone  before  — 
read  by  one  who  is  able  to  perceive  that  the  moral  quality  of 
a  duel  is  not  affected  by  its  results  —  read,  too,  in  the  light 
of  half  a  century  ago  —  and  the  challenge  will  be  admitted 
to  be  as  near  an  approach  to  a  reasonable  and  inevitable 
action,  as  an  action  can  be  which  is  intrinsically  wrong  and 
absurd.  But  not  so  thought  the  half-informed  public  of  1804, 
They  clamored  for  a  victim.  The  coroner's  jury  shared  in  the 
feeling  which  was,  for  the  moment,  all  but  universal,  and  after 
ten  or  twelve  days  of  investigation,  brought  in  a  verdict  to 
tKe  effect,  that  "  Aaron  Burr,  Esquire,  Yice-President  of  the 
\Jnited  States,  was  guilty  of  the  murder  of  Alexander  Hamil 
ton,  and  that  William  P.  Van  Ness,  and  Nathaniel  Pendletot 
vvero  accessories."  Mr.  Davis  and  another  gentleman,  for  r& 
rusing  to  testify,  were  committed  to  prison.  The  grand  jury 


TI*E     DUEL.  35$ 

i.  few  days  after,  instructed  the  district  attorney  to  prosecute. 
The  parties  implicated  fled,  in  amazement,  rather  than  terror, 
from  these  unexampled  proceedings. 

Need  it  oe  told  that  Cheetham  rose  with  the  occasion,  and 
surpassed  himself?  The  fables  he  invented  during  the  month 
following  the  duel  have  not  been  excelled  since  the  love  of 
scandal  was  implanted  in  the  heart  of  man.  Three  of  Burr's 
myrmidons,  he  said,  had  sat  day  and  night,  ransacking  news 
papers  for  the  grounds  of  a  challenge,  and  had  borne  Dr. 
Cooper's  letter  to  their  chief,  exulting !  Burr,  he  continued, 
had  learned  from  a  paragraph  in  the  Chronicle,  published  ten 
days  before  the  duel,  that  a  girl  in  England,  who  had  been 
shot  in  the  breast,  had  escaped  unharmed  from  the  bullet's 
striking  upon  a  silk  handkerchief.  Whereupon,  says  Cheet 
ham,  the  valorous  colonel  orders  a  suit  of  silk  clothes  to  fight  in, 
and  went  to  the  field  in  an  impenetrable  panoply  of  silk.  No, 
replied  the  Chronicle,  his  coat  was  of  bombazine,  and  his  pant 
aloons  of  cotton.  Cheetham  then  called  upon  "  the  ingenious 
and  philosophical  Peter  Irving,"  to  favor  the  public  with  a 
disquisition  upon  the  nature  of  bombazine,  and,  meanwhile, 
informs  them  that  its  woof  is  of  silk,  and  its  warp  of  mohair. 
A  discussion  on  the  fabric  of  the  waistcoast  runs  through  a 
few  numbers  of  each  paper.  Cheetham  further  averred  that 
while  Hamilton  lay  dying,  surrounded  by  his  agonized  family, 
Burr  sat  at  table  with  his  myrmidons  drinking  wine,  and  jocu 
larly  apologizing  to  them  for  not  having  shot  his  antagonist 
through  the  heart.  Another  of  his  inventions  was,  that  Colo 
nel  Burr  had,  for  three  months,  been  at  daily  practice  with 
the  pistol,  and  had  passed  the  morning  of  the  4th  of  July, 
before  going  to  the  banquet  of  the  Cincinnati,  in  shooting  at 
a  mark  in  the  grounds  of  Richmond  Hill.  The  truth  was, 
that  Colonel  Burr  was  inexpert  with  the  pistol  from  want  rf 
practice.  He  was  a  fair  shot,  because  he  was  fearless  and 
self-possessed.  A  great  shot  he  never  was. 

Such  vitality  may  there  be  in  lies  planted  at  the  right  mo- 
Aient  in  the  right  place,  and  in  the  right  manner,  that  these 
foolish  tales  have  still  a  certain  currency  in  the  United  States 
Many  old  Federalists  and  Chntomans  believe  them,  and  think 


360  LIFE     OP     AAEON     BTJEB. 

it  ignorance  in  one  who  does  not.  A  poem,  designed  foi 
Hamilton's  monument,  written  a  few  months  after  the  duel 
speaks 

"  Of  persecuted  greatness,  that  provoked 
The  practiced  aim  of  Infamy" 

All  but  the  most  devoted  friends  of  Burr  were  overawed 
by  the  storm  of  popular  indignation  thus  shamelessly  stimu* 
lated.  For  two  weeks,  even  the  Chronicle  was  nearly  silent 
Then  a  short  series  of  articles  appeared  palliating  and  excus 
ing  Burr's  conduct.  A  pamphlet,  signed  "Lysander,"  was 
published  in  August,  with  the  same  object.  There  was  a 
slight  reaction,  after  the  first  month  ;  and,  gradually,  a  con 
siderable  number  of  the  extreme  Republicans  came  to  regard 
with  a  certain  complacency  the  man  who  had  removed  the 
great  Federalist  from  the  political  field.  In  the  Far  West, 
and  in  some  parts  of  the  South,  Burr  gained  a  positive  in 
crease  of  popularity  by  the  duel.  But  in  the  States  where 
his  chief  strength  had  lain,  and  from  which  he  may  have 
hoped  for  future  support  against  the  Virginians,  he  sunk  to  a 
deeper  deep  of  unpopularity  than  any  American  citizen  has 
reached  since  Benedict  Arnold's  treason  amazed  the  strug 
gling  nation. 

This  duel  had  the  good  effect  of  rousing  the  public  mind  of 
the  free  States  to  a  sense  of  the  execrableness  of  the  practice 
of  dueling.  General  C.  C.  Pinckney,  Vice-President  of  the 
Cincinnati,  proposed  to  the  New  York  division,  that  the  so 
ciety  should  thenceforth  set  their  faces  resolutely  against  the 
practice  The  legislature  was  memorialized  for  more  string 
ent  laws  upon  the  subject,  and  the  clergy  were  besought  to 
denounce  the  murderous  custom  from  the  pulpit.  A  large 
number  of  them  did  so,  among  whom  was  Samuel  Spring,  of 
Kewburyport,  Burr's  college  friend,  and  fellow-adventurer  at 
Quebec.  Dr.  Nott,  then  pastor  of  a  Presbyterian  church  in 
Albany,  now  the  venerable  President  of  Union  College,  made 
ihe  fall  of  Hamilton  the  subject  of  a  sermon,  which  is  still 
vistly  celebrated.  As  the  strongest  eypr^ssion  of  feeling 
#hich  the  event  elicited,  I  append  here  its  pouoluding  pa* 
i  ages : 


THE     DUEL.  36i 

•*  Guilty,  absurd,  and  rash,  as  dueling  is,  it  has  its  advo 
cates.  And  had  it  not  had  its  advocates  —  had  not  a  strange 
preponderance  of  opinion  been  in  favor  of  it,  never,  O  lament 
able  Hamilton  I  hadst  thou  thus  fallen,  in  the  midst  of  thy 
days,  and  before  thou  hadst  reached  the  zenith  of  thy  glory ! 

"  O  that  I  possessed  the  talent  of  eulogy,  and  that  I  might 
be  permitted  to  indulge  the  tenderness  of  friendship  in  paying 
the  last  tribute  to  his  memory !  O  that  I  were  capable  of 
placing  this  great  man  before  you !  Could  I  do  this,  I  should 
furnish  you  with  an  argument,  the  most  practical,  the  most 
plain,  the  most  convincing,  except  that  drawn  from  the  man 
date  of  God,  that  was  ever  furnished  against  dueling,  that 
horrid  practice,  which  has  in  an  awful  moment  robbed  the 
world  of  such  exalted  worth. 

"  I  know  he  had  his  failings.  I  see  on  the  picture  of  his 
life,  a  picture  rendered  awful  by  greatness,  and  luminous  by 
virtue,  some  dark  shades.  On  these  let  the  tear  that  pities 
human  weakness  fall ;  on  these  let  the  vail  which  covers  human 
frailty  rest.  As  a  hero,  as  a  statesman,  as  a  patriot,  he  lived 
nobly :  and  would  to  God  I  could  add,  he  nobly  fell. 

"  Unwilling  to  admit  his  error  in  this  respect,  I  go  back  to 
the  period  of  discussion.  I  see  him  resisting  the  threatened 
interview.  I  imagine  myself  present  in  his  chamber.  Various 
reasons,  for  a  time,  seem  to  hold  his  determination  in  arrest. 
Various  and  moving  objects  pass  before  him,  and  speak  a  dis 
suasive  language. 

"  His  country,  which  may  need  his  counsels  to  guide,  and 
his  arm  to  defend,  utters  her  veto.  The  partner  of  his  youth, 
already  covered  with  weeds,  and  whose  tears  flow  down  into 
her  bosom,  intercedes !  His  babes,  stretching  out  their  little 
hands  and  pointing  to  a  weeping  mother,  with  lisping  elo 
quence,  but  eloquence  which  reaches  a  parent's  heart,  cry  out, 
'Stay,  stay,  dear  papa,  and  live  for  us"  In  the  mean  time 
I/he  specter  of  a  fallen  son,  pale  and  ghastly,  approaches,  opena 
his  bleeding  bosom,  and,  as  the  harbinger  of  death,  points  to 
the  yawning  tomb,  and  warns  a  hesitating  father  of  the 
•gue. 

"  He  pauses.  Reviews  these  sad  objects :  and  reasons  on 

16 


362  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

the  subject.  I  admire  his  magnanimity.  I  approve  his  rea 
soning,  and  I  wait  to  hear  him  reject  with  indignation  the  mur 
derous  proposition,  and  to  see  him  spurn  from  his  presence  the 
presumptuous  bearer  of  it. 

"  But  I  wait  in  vain.  It  was  a  moment  in  which  his  great 
wisdom  forsook  him.  A  moment  in  which  Hamilton  was  not 
himself. 

"He  yielded  to  the  force  of  an  imperious  custom,  and, 
yielding,  he  sacrificed  a  life  in  which  all  had  an  Interest ;  —  and 
lie  is  lost  —  lost  to  his  family  —  lost  to  us. 

*'  For  this  act,  because  he  disclaimed  it,  and  was  penitent,  I 
forgive  him.  But  there  are  those  whom  I  can  not  forgive. 

"  I  mean  not  his  antagonist,  over  whose  erring  steps,  if 
there  be  tears  in  heaven,  a  pious  mother  looks  down  and 
weeps.  Tf  he  is  capable  of  feeling,  he  suffers  already  all  that 
humanity  can  suffer :  suffers,  and,  wherever  he  may  fly,  will 
suffer,  with  the  poignant  recollection  of  having  taken  the  life 
of  one  who  was  too  magnanimous  in  return  to  attempt  his 
own.  Had  he  but  known  this,  it  must  have  paralyzed  his 
arm  while  it  pointed  at  so  incorruptible  a  bosom  the  instru 
ment  of  death.  Does  he  know  this  now  ?  his  heart,  if  it  be 

not  adamant,  must  soften ;  if  it  be  not  ice,  it  must  melt. 

But  on  this  article  I  forbear.  Stained  with  blood  as  he  is,  if 
he  be  penitent  I  forgive  him ;  and  if  he  be  not,  before  these 
altars,  where  all  of  us  appear  as  suppliants,  I  wish  not  to  ex 
cite  your  vengeance,  but  rather,  in  behalf  of  an  object  ren 
dered  wretched  and  pitiable  by  crime,  to  wake  your  prayers. 
*  *  «  *  *  * 

"  Ah !  ye  tragic  shores  of  Hoboken,  crimsoned  with  the 
richest  blood,  I  tremble  at  the  crimes  you  record  against  us, 
the  annual  register  of  murders  which  you  keep  and  send  up 
to  God  !  Place  of  inhuman  cruelty !  beyond  the  limits  of 
reason,  of  duty,  and  of  religion,  where  man  assumes  a  more 
barbarous  nature,  and  ceases  to  be  man.  What  poignant- 
lingering  sorrows  do  thy  lawless  combats  occasion  to  surviv 
tog  relatives ! 

"  Ye  who  have  hearts  of  pity,  ye  who  have  experienced  the 
inguish  of  dissolving  friendship,  who  have  wept,  and  stil 


THE     DUEL.  363 

over  the  rnoldering  ruins  of  departed  kindred,  ye  can 
enter  into  this  reflection." 

Not  in  vain  did  these  words  ring  out  with  such  emphasis 
from  that  Albany  pulpit.  The  sermon  was  widely  circulated 
and  reached  the  national  conscience.  Since  that  day,  no  man, 
n  the  civilized  States  of  this  Union,  has  fought  a  duel  without 
falling  in  the  esteem  of  his  countrymen.  The  custom  is  now 
abolished  in  those  States,  never  to  be  revived. 

A  few  months  after  the  duel,  the  St.  Andrew's  Society  of 
New  York  erected  upon  the  spot  where  Hamilton,  their  presi 
dent,  fell,  a  marble  monument,  and  surrounded  it  with  an  iron 
railing.  For  many  years,  while  the  monument  stood,  the 
place  was  visited  by  thousands  of  people  in  the  course  of 
every  summer.  It  was  never  known  by  what  irreverent 
hands  the  railing  was  first  broken  down,  and  the  whole  struct 
ure  gradually  removed ;  but,  for  thirty  years  past,  no  trace 
of  the  monument  has  existed  on  the  ground  which  it  com 
memorated.  The  slab  which  bore  the  inscription  was  pre 
served,  until  very  recently,  in  an  out-house  of  the  mansion 
where  resides  the  historical  family  who  are  proprietors  of  the 
spot.  But,  upon  searching  for  it,  two  years  ago,  the  steward 
of  the  estate  discovered  that  even  that  last  relic  had  disap 
peared  in  the  same  mysterious  manner  as  the  rest.  At  pres 
ent  there  is  not  so  much  as  a  path  leading  to  the  scene  of  the 
duel,  and  no  one  can  find  it,  among  those  tangled  and  pre 
cipit  ous  heights,  without  a  guide. 


APPENDIX— 1864. 


fOUNG  BURR  AMONG   THE  GIRLS  IN  CONNECTICUT. 

AMONG  the  family  papers  of  a  descendant  of  Jonathan 
Edwards  there  has  been  discovered,  since  the  publication  ol 
this  book,  a  letter,  in  the  form  of  a  diary,  written  by  Aaron 
Burr  to  his  sister  when,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  was  resid 
ing  in  the  family  of  Dr.  Bellamy,  at  Bethlehem,  Connecticut. 
Every  sentence  of  it  shows  a  characteristic  touch.  The  reader 
will  observe  that  Burr  quotes  the  line : 

"  0!    fools,  who  think  it  solitude  to  be  alone." 

In  a  letter,  written  to  his  daughter  thirty  years  after,  in 
view  of  the  approaching  duel  with  Hamilton,  he  employs  the 
same  quotation.  See  page  348.  In  1804  he  seems  to  have 
forgotten  the  name  of  the  poet,  whom  he  styled  "  some  very 
wise  man."  When  the  following  letter  was  written,  Hamil 
ton,  a  student  of  Columbia  College  in  New  York,  seventeen 
years  of  age,  was  writing  those  essays  upon  the  rights  of  the 
American  Colonies,  which  laid  the  foundation  of  his  fortunes. 
Burr  and  his  young  friends  were  equally  agitated  on  the  great 
subject — little  as  it  would  be  inferred  from  this  curious  epistle : 

AAEON  BURR  TO   HIS   SISTER. 

BETHLEHEM,  January  17,  1774,  ) 
Monday,  P.  M.,  10  o'clock.    > 

DEAR  SISTER  :  I  arrived  here  without  anything  remarkable 
hap'ning  to  me,  which  is  very  extraordinary — however,  the 
Fates  never  decreed  that  I  should  go  any  where,  but  some  oue 


066  LIFE     OP     AARON     BURR. 

should  be  the  worse  for  it — as  you  well  know  "by  sad  ex 
perience. 

Riding  soberly  along,  we  overtook  a  young  Gentleman  and 
Lady  on  one  Horse.  Our  appearance  entirely  engrossed  their 
attention ;  their  Horse  stumbled  when  they  were  least  aware 
of  it,  and  they  both  fell  off— most  unfortunately  there  hap'ned 
to  be  by  the  side  of  the  Path  a  very  deep  gulley,  filled  up  with 
enow ;  here  fell  the  unhappy  Victims !  The  young  Gentleman 
had  the  good  Fortune  to  light  on  his  feet — not  so  the  unhappy 
Nymph !  for  falling  backwards  she  was  unable  to  help  her 
self — her  head  struck  first,  and  she  sunk  in,  up  to  her  waist ! 
0  !  miserabile  Visu  ! 

When  the  little  Spark  saw  his  Mistress  in  this  doleful  Plight, 
awed  by  her  appearance,  he  at  first  hesitated  whether  he 
should  approach  her ;  but  at  length  (with  due  deference  to 
her  situation)  seized  her  by  one  foot,  and  after  many  a  Sturdy 
Lugg,  surpassing  his  pygmy  size,  disengaged  her  from  her 
Downy  Bed. 

When  I  first  entered  this  House,  "Hey !  (says  Jones)  what 
rent  you  here  already."  "Is  Miss  D.  at  Litchfield" — (says 
Mrs.  Bellamy,)  no  (replied  I)  she  went  away  last  Fryday. 
"  Now  the  Mystery  is  unravelled,  well  we  did  not  expect  you 
here  again  this  Winter."  Then  in  comes  the  Old  Doctor,  and 
between  him,  Mrs.  Bellamy,  Sam  Jones  and  Betsey,  I  was 
mauled  most  thoroughly  for  nearly  an  hour,  and  so  constant 
and  clamorous  were  they,  that  had  it  been  for  my  life,  I  could 
not  have  had  one  syllable  in  the  conversation.  "  Ay,  Silence 
gives  consent — Silence  gives  consent,"  v^as  the  universal  cry, 
"A  guilty  Conscience  needs  no  accuser" — "See  how  he 
blushes!"  What  could  I  do?  My  tongue  was  of  so  little 
vise  that  I  seized  it  several  Times,  and  had  serious  Thoughts 
of  biting  it  off,  and  I  often  wished  I  had  not  a  drop  of  Blood 
in  my  Boiy,  unless  I  could  keep  it  in  better  Regulation. 

When  supper  came  you'll  see  how  I  fared.  You  know  I 
was  up  the  greatest  Part  of  last  Night  writing  letters,  and  I 
ate  so  enormously  at  Supper  and  Breakfast  that  I  had  an  ex 
treme  Pain  in  my  stomach  and  was  very  drowsy.  "  Ah !  he's 
far  gone — has  no  appetite — do  mind  that  sober  Fiz !"  I  told 


YOUNG    BUBB    AMONG     TUB     GIELS.  367 

them  I  had  a  Pain  in  my  Breast.  "  Ay,  the  Heart-Ache  1 
suppose  he  means.  La !  how  pale  the  child  looks—  how  poor 
he's  grown !  I  imagine  he  had  better  go  to  Bed.  I  suppose 
he  has  slept  none  this  Fortnight."  This  last  stroke  I  did  not 
at  first  comprehend,  but  I  find  they  have  no  Idea  of  Courtship 
but  as  a  work  of  Darkness.  Whence  all  this  came  I  shall  be 
better  able  to  tell  to-morrow. 

TUESDAY,  9  o'clock  A.  M. — David  Bellamy,  last  Night  from 
N.  Haven,  saw  Mr.  Edwards,  and  informs  me  that  he  and  his 
company  rode  but  3  miles  the  night  they  started  from  Litch- 
field.  The  same  Person  says  they  have  as  much  snow  in  New 
Haven  as  here.  Since  this  is  the  case  you  may  look  out  for 
Fairfield  Folks,  if  they  have  common  sense  and  any  desire  to 
see  you.  But  should  they  come  either  from  F.  F.  or  Stock- 
bridge,  I  shall  expect  immediate  notice. 

Two  O'CLOCK,  P.  M. — I  was  just  now  called  down  to  Din 
ner,  when  to  my  surprise  I  found  the  House  full  of  Ministers ; 
however,  I  sat  down ;  and  the  old  Doctor  began :  "  Why,  Mr, 
Burr,  you've  lost  your  appetite."  "  Doctor,"  (cries  the  old 
woman,)  "  it  is  not  fair  to  run  your  Riggs  on  Mr.  Burr,  before 
all  these  strangers ;  you'll  make  him  blush ;  if  he  is  in  love,  he 
can't  help  it."  I  could  have  bit  her  Head  off  for  her  Kind 
ness,  with  a  great  Deal  of  Pleasure.  Nevertheless,  this  was 
but  a  modest  Preface  to  what  followed.  Some  proposed  dif 
ferent  cures  for  love ;  others  would  tell  infallible  signs  of  it, 
which  they  took  good  care  should  be  all  found  in  me.  In 
short,  I  was  the  sum  and  substance  of  the  conversation  of  this 
large  Reverend  Assembly  all  Dinner  Time,  which  seemed  to 
me  a  little  Eternity.  At  length  the  old  woman  (to  sum  up 
every  odious  character  that  ever  disgraced  humanity)  told  me 
I  was  in  the  right  of  it  to  marry  a  rich  wife  if  I  could  get  one, 
and  added  she  wished  her  sons  would  follow  my  example. 
Every  grain  of  spirit  in  me  that  had  not  been  melted  down  by 
the  universal  softener  kindled  afresh  at  this  injurious  charge, 
and  really  I  blackguarded  the  old  woman  with  all  the  skill  1 
was  Master  of.  They  are  excessively  cautious  to  conceal  from 
me  the  Author  of  these  Reports,  but  I  shall  be  as  studious  t« 
discover  it. 


#68  LIFE     OP     AAEON     BURR. 

WEDNESDAY,  1  o'clock — A  Beautiful  Day. — Between  12 
and  1  last  night,  as  I  was  (according  to  custom)  anticipating 
the  most  perfect  Happiness  a  few  years  more  could  possibly 
produce ;  when  no  dark  cloud  appeared  to  obscure  the  pleas 
ing  Prospect ;  when  I  sincerely  exclaimed,  with  your  admired 
Poet— 

"  O  !    fools,  who  think  it  solitude  to  be  alone." 

— in  this  sweet,  transporting,  though  delusive  moment,  Jones 
gave  a  yell,  the  most  shrill  and  doleful  that  ever  was  uttered, 
followed  by  a  groan  more  distressing  than  I  ever  imagined 
could  proceed  from  any  one,  tho'  in  the  extremest  Agonies  of 
an  expiring  Moment.  I  expected  no  other  than  to  find  him 
cold ;  however,  I  ventured  to  shake  him,  he  awoke  in  perfect 
Health,  and  told  me  the  cause  of  his  distress  was  the  fol 
lowing  : 

He  imagined  himself  preaching  to  a  numerous  audience,  in 
the  front  of  a  very  high  Gallery.  As  it  was  Midsummer  he 
felt  very  drowsy,  and  after  repeatedly  nodding  went  into  a 
sound  sleep  and  fell  forward  over  the  Gallery,  catching  only 
by  his  Toes,  and  in  this  melancholy  situation  was  he,  under  a 
lively  sense  of  his  heinous  crime,  viewing  himself  on  the  Bor 
ders  of  Eternity,  when  I  waked  him ;  but  the  Doctor  roars  for 
me  to  Dinner. 

P.  M.,  2  o'clock. — I  have  just  been  over  to  the  Tavern  to  buy 
candles ;  there  I  saw  six  slay-loads  of  Bucks  &  Bells,  from 
Woodberry,  and  a  happier  company  I  believe  there  never  was ; 
it  really  did  me  good  to  look  at  them.  They  were  drinking 
Cherry  Rum  when  I  entered  the  room,  and  I  easily  perceived 
that  both  Males  and  Females  had  enough  to  keep  them  in 
Spirits.  The  Females  especially  looked  too  immensely  good 
natured  to  say  no  to  anything.  And  I  doubt  not  the  Effects 
of  this  Frolic  will  be  very  visible  a  few  Months  hence. 

THURSDAY,  1 1  o'clock,  A.  M. — I  have  at  length  found  out 
the  Author  of  these  Reports  about  me,  tho'  there  was  vast 

Pains  taken  to  conceal  it  from .  My  uncommon  respect 

for  the  fair  sex  prevented  me  from  having  the  least  suspicion 
of  any  one  of  them.  However,  much  to  my  surprise,  I  find 


YOUNG     BUEE     AMONG     THE     GIEL8.  369 

that  even  among  them  some  are  imperfect.  Sam  went  lately 
to  spend  an  evening  (or  rather  a  night)  with  a  certain  Miss  L. 
Marsh,  at  the  Farms.  She,  among  many  other  things,  told 
Sam  that  Mr.  Burr  gallanted  Miss  D —  about  town  every  day, 
and  sat  up  with  her  every  other  night ;  tho'  I  had  never  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  the  above-mentioned  lady,  I  really  admire 
her  invention. 

To-day  several  families  in  this  place  have  sent  for  Mr.  Mar 
shall  (the  Episcopalian  minister  in  Woodberry)  to  have  a 
general  christening,  for  they  despair  of  ever  having  this  office 
performed  by  Dr.  Bellamy,  as  they  are  none  of  the  most 
scrupulous  sort  of  folks — 'tis  very  probable  this  will  be  the 
means  of  raising  a  church -party  in  this  place. 

P.  M.,  10  o'clock. — I  have  just  found  an  opportunity  to  send 
you  this  scrawl — you  will  find  it  a  curious  pack  of  trumpery. 
But  keep  it  to  yourself  as  you  ever  expect  another  line  from 
your 

Yery  affectionate 

BROTHEE  BUEE. 

The  bearer  will  wait  upon  you  for  your  commands  to 
morrow. 


n. 

ONE  OF  AARON  BURR'S  COLLEGE  COMPOSITIONS. 

The  Passions. 

"  AMID  the  variety  of  literary  pieces  which  have  in  all  ages 
been  ushered  into  the  world,  few,  if  any,  afford  greater  satis* 
faction  than  those  that  treat  of  man.  To  persons  of  a  spec 
ulative  nature  and  eiegant  taste,  whose  bosoms  glow  with 
benevolence,  such  disquisitions  are  peculiarly  delightful.  The 


870  LIFE    OF    AAEON    BURR. 

reason,  indeed,  is  obvious;  for  what  more  necessary  to  bt 
learned  and  accurately  understood?  and,  therefore,  what  more 
proper  to  engage  the  attention  ?  Well  may  I  say,  with  our 
ethic  poet, 

"  The  proper  study  of  mankind  is  man." 

"  If  we  take  a  view  of  the  body  only,  which  may  be  called 
the  shell  or  external  crust,  we  shall  perceive  it  to  be  formed 
with  amazing  nicety  and  art.  How  are  we  lost  in  wonder 
when  we  behold  all  its  component  parts;  when  we  behold 
them,  although  various  and  minute,  and  blended  together  al 
most  beyond  conception,  discharging  their  peculiar  functions 
without  the  least  confusion.  All  harmoniously  conspiring  to 
one  grand  end. 

"  But  when  we  take  a  survey  of  the  more  sublime  parts  of 
the  human  frame ;  when  we  behold  man's  internal  make  and 
structure;  his  mental  faculties;  his  social  propensities,  and 
those  active  powers  which  set  all  in  motion — the  passions, — 
what  an  illustrious  display  of  consummate  wisdom  is  presented 
to  our  admiring  view !  What  brighter  mark — what  stronger 
evidence  need  we  of  a  God?  The  scanty  limits  of  a  few 
minutes,  to  which  I  am  confined,  would  not  permit  me,  were 
I  equal  to  the  task,  to  enter  into  a  particular  examination  of 
all  man's  internal  powers.  I  shall  therefore  throw  out  a  few 
thoughts  on  the  passions  only. 

"  Man's  mental  powers,  being  in  their  nature  sluggish  and 
inactive,  cannot  put  themselves  hi  motion.  The  grand  design 
then  of  the  passions  is  to  rouse  them  to  action.  These  lively 
and  vigorous  principles  make  us  eager  in  the  pursuit  of  those 
things  that  are  approved  by  the  judgment;  keep  the  mind 
intent  upon  proper  objects,  and  at  once  awake  to  action  all 
the  powers  of  the  soul.  The  passions  give  vivacity  to  all  our 
operations,  and  render  the  enjoyments  of  life  pleasing  and 
agreeable.  Without  them,  the  scenes  of  the  world  would 
affect  us  no  more  than  the  shadowy  pictures  of  a  morning 
dream. 

uWho  can  view  the  works  of  nature,  and  the  production* 


A    COLLEGE    COMPOSITION.  371 

of  art,  without  the  most  sublime  and  rapturous  emotions? 
Who  can  view  the  miseries  of  others,  without  being  dis 
solved  into  compassion?  Who  can  read  human  nature,  as 
represented  in  the  histories  of  the  world,  without  burning  to 
chastise  the  perpetrators  of  tyranny,  or  glowing  to  imitate  the 
assertors  of  freedom  ?  But,  were  we  of  a  sudden  stripped  of 
our  passions,  we  should  survey  the  works  of  nature  and  the 
productions  of  art  with  indifference  and  neglect.  We  should 
be  unaffected  with  the  calamities  of  others,  deaf  to  the  calls 
of  pity,  and  dead  to  all  the  feelings  of  humanity.  Without 
generosity,  benevolence,  or  charity,  man  would  be  a  grovelling, 
despicable  creature.  Without  the  passions,  man  would  hardly 
rank  above  the  beasts. 

"It  is  a  trite  truth,  that  the  passions  have  too  much  influ 
ence  over  our  sentiments  and  opinions.  It  is  the  remark  of  a 
late  author,  that  the  actions  and  sentiments  of  men  do  as 
naturally  follow  the  lead  of  the  passions,  as  the  effect  does  the 
cause.  Hence  they  are,  by  some,  aptly  enough,  termed  the 
principles  of  action.  Vicious  desires  will  produce  vicious 
practices ;  and  men,  by  permitting  themselves  to  think  of  in 
dulging  irregular  passions,  corrupt  the  understanding,  which 
is  the  source  of  all  virtue  and  morality.  The  passions,  then, 
if  properly  regulated,  are  the  gentle  gales  which  keep  life 
from  stagnating ;  but,  if  let  loose,  the  tempests  which  tear 
every  thing  before  them.  Too  fatal  observation  will  evince 
the  truth  of  this. 

"  Do  we  not  frequently  behold  men  of  the  most  sprightly 
genius,  by  giving  the  reins  to  their  passions,  lost  to  society, 
and  reduced  to  the  lowest  ebb  of  misery  and  despair  ?  Do 
we  not  frequently  behold  persons  of  the  most  penetrating  dis 
cernment  and  happy  turn  for  polite  literature,  by  mingling 
with  the  sons  of  sensuality  and  riot,  blasted  in  the  bloom  of 
life?  Such  was  the  fate  of  the  late  celebrated  Duke  of 
Whirton,  Wilmot,  earl  of  Rochester,  and  Villers,  duke  of 
Buckingham,  three  noblemen,  as  eminently  distinguished  by 
their  wit,  taste,  and  knowledge,  as  for  their  extravagance, 
revelry,  and  lawless  passions.  In  such  cases,  the  most  charm 
ing  elocution,  the  finest  fancy,  the  brightest  blaza  of  genius, 


872  IIFB    OP    AARON    BT7RK. 

and  the  noblest  burst  of  thoughts,  call  for  louder  vengeanct 
and  damn  them  to  lasting  infamy  and  shame. 

"  A  greater  curse  cannot,  indeed,  befall  community,  than  for 
princes  and  men  in  eminent  departments  to  be  under  the  in 
fluence  of  ill-directed  passions.  Lo,  Alexander  and  Caesar,  the 
fabled  heroes  of  antiquity,  to  what  lengths  did  passion  hurry 
them?  Ambition,  with  look  sublime,  bade  them  on,  bade 
them  grasp  at  universal  dominion,  and  wade  to  empire  through 
seas  of  blood !  But  why  need  I  confine  myself  to  these  ? 
Do  not  provinces,  plundered  and  laid  waste  with  fire  and 
sword;  do  not  nations,  massacred  and  slaughtered  by  the 
bloody  hand  of  war ;  do  not  all  these  dreadful  and  astonish 
ing  revolutions,  recorded  in  the  pages  of  history,  show  the 
fatal  effects  of  lawless  passions? 

11  If  the  happiness  of  others  could  not,  yet  surely  our  own 
happiness  should  induce  us  to  keep  our  passions  within  the 
bounds  of  reason ;  for  the  passions,  when  unduly  elevated, 
destroy  the  health,  impair  the  mental  faculties,  sour  the  dis 
position,  imbitter  life,  and  make  us  equally  disagreeable  to 
others  and  uneasy  to  ourselves.  Is  it  not,  then,  of  moment, 
that  our  passions  be  duly  balanced,  their  sallies  confined  within 
proper  limits,  and  in  no  case  suffered  to  transgress  the  bounds 
of  reason  ?  Will  any  one  deny  the  importance  of  regulating 
the  passions,  when  he  considers  how  powerful  they  are,  and 
that  his  own  happiness,  and  perhaps  the  happiness  of  thous 
ands,  depends  upon  it  ?  The  regulation  of  the  passions  is  a 
matter  of  moment,  and  therefore  we  should  be  careful  to  fix 
them  upon  right  objects,  to  confine  them  within  proper  bounds, 
and  never  permit  them  to  exceed  the  limits  assigned  by 
nature.  It  is  the  part  of  reason  to  soothe  the  passions,  and 
to  keep  the  soul  in  a  pleasing  serenity  and  calm :  if  reason 
rules,  all  is  quiet,  composed,  and  benign :  if  reason  rules,  all 
the  passions,  like  a  musical  concert,  are  in  unison.  In  short, 
our  passions,  when  moderate,  are  accompanied  with  a  sense 
of  fitness  and  rectitude;  but,  when  excessive,  inflame  the 
mind,  and  hurry  us  on  to  action  without  due  distinction  of 
9bjects. 

"Among  uncivilized  nations,  the  passions  do,  in  general, 


BURR    AND    CHESTERFIELD.  379 

exceed  all  rational  bounds.  Need  we  a  proof  of  this  ?  Let 
ns  cast  our  eyes  on  the  different  savage  tribes  in  the  world, 
and  we  shall  be  immediately  convinced  that  the  passions  rule 
without  control.  Happy  it  is,  that  in  polished  society,  the 
passions,  by  early  discipline,  are  so  moderated  as  to  be  made 
subservient  to  the  most  important  services.  In  this  respect, 
seminaries  of  learning  are  of  the  utmost  advantage,  and  at 
tended  with  the  most  happy  effects.  Moreover,  the  passions 
are  attended  with  correspondent  commotions  in  animal  nature, 
and  therefore,  the  real  temper  will,  of  course,  be  discovered 
by  the  countenance,  the  gesture,  and  the  voice.  Here  I  might 
run  into  a  pleasing  enumeration  of  many  instances  of  this; 
but,  fearing  that  I  have  already  trespassed  upon  your  patience, 
shall  desist.  Permit  me,  however  unusual,  to  close  with  a 
wish.  May  none  of  those  unruly  passions  ever  captivate  any 
of  my  audience." 


m. 

BURR   AND    CHESTERFIELD. 

^ 

>'     ALLUSION  is  made  (p.  63)  to  the  influence  of  Lord  Chester* 
field  upon  the  forming  character  of  Aaron  Burr.    It  is  a 
curious  fact  that  the  letters  of  Chesterfield  to  his  son,  which 
were  published  in  England  in  1774,  were  re-published  in  Bos 
ton  in  1779,  in  the  midst  of  the  Revolutionary  War.    They  / 
appeared  in  two  duodecimo  volumes,  price  five  dollars.    This  / 
Was,  probably,  the  most  costly  work  published  in  America 
during  the  war ;  most  of  the  other  announcements  in  the  new* 
papers  being  pamphlets  and  sermons. 


1*4  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR, 

IV. 

THE  BODY  OF  GENERAL  MONTGOMERY 

THE  story  of  Aaron  Burr's  bearing  off  the  body  of  General 
Montgomery  at  Quebec  (see  page  76)  having  been  called  in 
question,  I  place  here  the  chief  evidence  on  which  the  state 
ment  rests.  That  Burr  himself  was  accustomed  to  tell  the 
story  is  known  to  many  persons  still  living.  Mr.  M.  L.  Davis 
informs  us  that  Col.  Burr  was  unwilling  to  have  it  told  in  his 
memoirs  unless  testimony  corroborative  of  his  own  assertion 
could  be  obtained.  Consequently,  the  anecdote  did  not  ap 
pear  in  that  work.  After  its  publication,  however,  Mr.  Davia 
obtained  from  Dr.  Gardner  Spring,  the  eminent  clergyman 
and  theologian  of  this  city,  a  statement  which  places  the  truth 
of  the  story  beyond  doubt.  Besides  confirming  Col.  Burr's 
claim  to  the  honor  in  question,  Dr.  Spring's  letter  has  the 
additional  value  of  showing  us  upon  what  ground  an  eminent 
clergyman  and  theologian,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thou 
sand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-eight,  could  advise  his  father  to 
shun  an  old  friend,  classmate,  and  comrade :  namely,  Ms  hav 
ing  lost  caste  ! 

BEV.   GARDNER   SPRING  TO   M.   L.   DAVIS. 

NEW  YORK,  Brick-church  Chapel,  October  23, 1838. 

G.  Spring's  compliments  to  Mr.  Davis,  with  a  hasty  reply 
to  his  note  of  yesterday. 

The  facts  in  relation  to  my  venerable  father's  interview  with 
Colonel  Burr  are  just  as  I  stated  them  to  you  at  Saratoga. 
The  last  visit  my  father  made  me,  he  expressed  a  great  anxiety 
to  see  Colonel  Burr.  I  objected,  and  told  him  Burr  had  lost 
taste,  and  it  was  reputable  neither  to  him  nor  myself  to  call 
In  him. 

For  two  or  three  days  he  relinquished  the  design  of  making 


THE    BODY   OF   GENERAL  MONTGOMERY.         378 

the  call.  But  on  an  afternoon,  just  before  he  left  us,  he  said 
to  ine,  "  My  son,  I  must  see  Burr  before  I  leave  the  city.  I 
went  through  the  woods  with  him  under  Arnold.  I  stood  by 
his  side  on  the  Plains  of  Abram,  and  I  have  not  seen  him 
since  the  morning  on  which  Montgomery  fell.  It  was  a  heavy 
snow-storm.  Montgomery  had  fallen.  The  British  troops 
were  advancing  towards  the  dead  body ;  and  little  Burr  was 
hastening  from  the  fire  of  the  enemy,  up  to  his  knees  in  snow, 
with  Montgomery's  body  on  his  shoulders !  Do  you  wonder 
I  wish  to  see  him  ?" 

I  conducted  my  father  to  Col.  Burr's  office,  and  we  subse 
quently  spent  part  of  an  evening  together  at  my  house  in  Beek- 
man  street.  My  father  was  a  volunteer  chaplain  under  Ar 
nold,  and,  being  friends  at  college,  he  and  Burr  were  much 
together  during  that  fearful  campaign. 

G.  SPRING. 


The  Rev.  Dr.  Van  Pelt  informed  me  that  Burr,  on  his 
death-bed,  said  that  he  was  close  to  General  Montgomery  when 
he  fell,  and  declared  that  if  he  had  been  in  command,  he  would 
have  gone  on  and  taken  Quebec. 


V. 

ARNOLD'S   EXPEDITION   TO    QUEBEC    IN   1776. 

WE  have  some  further  light  upon  this  perilous  and  romantic 
expedition  in  ths  diary  of  a  private,  named  James  Melwin, 
vrhich  has  been  published  for  private  circulation  by  a  club  of 
this  city.  Tb«  most  interesting  passages  of  this  diary  are  the 
toll  owing: 


876  LIFE    OF    AARON    BURR. 

CAMBRIDGE,  SEPTEMBER  13,  1775. 

This  day  being  Wednesday,  marched  from  Cambridge,  ia 
Capt.  Dearborn's*  company,  destined  for  Quebec,  and  were  to 
embark  at  Newburyport  for  Kennebec  river.  We  lodged  in 
Medford. 

Sept.  14.  Received  one  month's  pay,  and  marched  to  Lynn ; 
lodged  at  Porter's  tavern. 

Sept.  16.  Marched  to  Newburyport ;  the  company  were 
quartered  in  a  rope-walk. 

Sept.  17.     Sunday — the  detachment  went  to  meeting. 

Sept.  18.  P.  M. — Embarked  on  board  a  schooner  of  seven 
ty-five  tons ;  the  whole  were  embarked  in  eleven  vessels. 

Sept.  19.  About  10  o'clock  sailed  out  of  the  harbor,  and 
stood  on  and  off,  waiting  for  one  of  the  vessels  which  got 
aground,  and  not  getting  off,  the  men  were  put  on  board  the 
other  vessels,  and  we  sailed  in  the  afternoon,  with  a  fair  wind 
and  pleasant  weather ;  at  night  it  grew  thick  and  foggy,  with 
ram,  thunder,  and  lightning,  and  blowed  fresh. 

Sept.  20.  In  the  morning,  foggy  and  wet ;  lay  to  part  of 
the  night ;  at  daybreak  two  of  our  fleet  were  in  sight,  and  we 
made  sail  and  stood  in  for  the  shore.  Blowed  fresh — we  made 
Seguin. 

Sept.  23.  Arrived  at  Fort  Western.  One  James  McCor- 
mick  shot  Sergeant  Bishop. 

Sept.  25.    McCormick  was  found  guilty. 

Sept.  26.     He  was  brought  to  the  gallows  and  reprieved. 

Sept.  27.  Got  our  provisions  into  batteaux,  and  went  about 
four  miles. 

Sept.  28.  Proceeded  up  the  river  and  found  the  water 
shoal,  which  caused  a  rapid  current,  and  we  were  obliged 
often  to  get  out  and  wade,  pulling  the  boat  after  us. 

Sept.  30.  Arrived  at  Fort  Halifax,  where  was  the  first  car 
rying  place ;  the  land  here  is  better  than  that  near  the  sea. 
We  carried  over  our  batteaux  and  provisions ;  the  carrying 
place  is  opposite  the  fort. 

*  Afterward  Major-Genera!  and  Secretary  of  War. 


ABNOLD'S  EXPEDITION  TO  QUEBEC.        877 

OCTOBER,  1775. 

Oct'r  4.  Went  up  to  Bumazees  Ripples,  and  came  to  NOT- 
rigewalk.  The  carriage-place  is  about  a  mile  in  length.  We 
had  oxen  to  haul  over  our  provision.  Our  batteaux  were 
caulked.  We  were  now  to  take  our  leave  of  houses  and  set 
tlements,  of  which  we  saw  no  more,  except  one  Indian  wigwam, 
till  we  came  among  the  French,  in  Canada. 

Oct'r  9.  Arrived  at  the  great  carrying-place,  where  was  a 
log  house  built  for  the  sick. 

Oct'r  10.  Mr.  Spring,*  our  chaplain,  went  to  prayers;  we 
went  to  the  first  pond,  four  miles  from  the  river ;  it  blowed 
hard,  and  one  of  the  men  was  killed  by  the  falling  of  a  tree. 

Oct'r  11.  Crossed  the  first  pond  about  three-quarters  of  a 
mile  over ;  here  is  plenty  of  fine  trout. 

Oct'r  12.  There  was  a  log  house  built  on  the  first  carrying- 
place,  between  the  first  and  second  ponds. 

Oct'r  13.  Crossed  the  carrying-place  from  this  pond  to  an 
other  ;  the  carrying-place  is  about  one  mile  over. 

Oct'r  14.  Crossed  the  pond  about  half  a  mile  over,  and  got 
over  the  carrying-place  about  one  and  a  half  mile  in  length ; 
the  woods  are  cedar  and  hemlock. 

Oct'r  16.  Crossed  the  third  pond,  about  one  and  a  half 
miles  over.  We  got  over  the  fourth  carrying-place,  four  and 
a  half  miles  in  length ;  part  of  the  way  over  a  boggy  swamp, 
overgrown  with  white  moss  and  bushes,  which  seemed  half 
withered ;  found  it  difficult  getting  over  our  batteaux  and  bar 
rels,  sinking  knee  deep  in  moss  and  mud.  We  launched  our 
batteaux  into  a  small  creek  which  enters  the  Dead  river. 

Oct'r  IV.    Went  eighteen  miles  up  the  Dead  river. 

Oct'r  18.  Overtook  Col.  Greenf  and  his  party  about  twen 
ty-five  miles  up  Dead  river ;  had  orders  to  put  ourselves  in  a 
defensive  condition. 

Oct'r  19.    Had  orders  to  march,  and  went  about  five  miles, 

*  Father  of  the  Rev.  Gardner  Spring,  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  the  Brick  Church. 

f  The  hero  of  Red  Bank,  who,  with  his  command,  were  afterward  gur 
•riit-vl  and  murdered  by  a  party  of  Refugees,  near  Pine's  Bridge,  We«t 
theater  county,  May  13,  1784. 


378  LIFE     OP     AARON     BURR. 

Oct'r  20.    Rained  all  last  night  and  this  day. 

Oct'r  21.  Marched  through  hideous  woods  and  mountaim 
for  the  most  part,  but  sometimes  on  the  banks  of  the  river, 
which  is  very  rapid. 

Oct'r  23.  Captain  Handshill  and  sixty  men  went  forward 
with  ten  days'  provision;  about  forty  sick  and  weak  men 
went  back  with  only  two  or  three  days'  provision.  The  river 
here  is  narrow  and  excessive  rapid. 

Oct'r  27.  Crossed  the  second  carrying-place,  three-quarters 
of  a  mile,  then  crossed  second  pond,  then  third  carrying-place 
and  third  pond,  then  fourth  carrying-place  and  fourth  pond, 
and  encamped. 

Oct'r  28.  Came  down  Chadeur  river  in  a  birch  canoe,  and 
went  to  fetch  back  a  batteau  to  carry  the  men  across  a  river, 
but  could  not  overtake  them.  The  company  were  ten  miles, 
wading  knee  deep  among  alders,  &c.,  the  greatest  part  of  the 
way,  and  came  to  a  river  which  had  overflown  the  land.  We 
stopped  some  time  not  knowing  what  to  do,  and  at  last  were 
obliged  to  wade  through  it,  the  ground  giving  way  under  us 
at  every  step.  We  got  on  a  little  knoll  of  land  and  went  ten 
miles,  where  we  were  obliged  to  stay,  night  coming  on,  and 
we  were  all  cold  and  wet ;  one  man  fainted  in  the  water  with 
fatigue  and  cold,  but  was  helped  along.  We  had  to  wade 
into  the  water  and  chop  down  trees,  fetch  the  wood  out  of  the 
water  after  dark  to  make  a  fire  to  dry  ourselves ;  however,  at 
last  we  got  a  fire,  and  after  eating  a  mouthful  of  pork,  laid 
ourselves  down  to  sleep  round  the  fire,  the  water  surrounding 
us  close  to  our  heads ;  if  it  had  rained  hard  it  would  have 
overflown  the  place  we  were  in.  Capt.  Goodrich's  company 
had  only  three-quarters  of  a  pound  of  pork,  each  man,  and  a 
barrel  of  flour  among  the  whole.  They  ordered  the  batteau 
to  proceed  down  the  river  with  the  flour,  and  when  they  came 
to  the  place  above-mentioned,  waded  through.  They  came  to 
the  knoll  of  land  before  mentioned,  and  made  a  fire  to  dry 
themselves,  being  almost  perished.  After  some  time  they 
inarched,  and  found  the  difficulty  increasing,  being  informed 
they  must  return  the  way  they  came ;  being  night,  they  camped 
on  the  dryest  spot  they  could  find. 


ARNOLD'S  EXPEDITION  TO  QUEBEC.        379 

Oct'r  29.  Being  Sunday ;  crossed  a  river  after  much  fatigue 
and  loss  of  time,  in  a  birch  canoe,  and  then  waded  to  another 
river,  about  forty  rods  from  the  first,  which  we  crossed  last 
night.  I  lay  at  a  bark  house,  and  this  morning  went  in  the 
canoe  to  ferry  over  the  people  over  the  two  rivers  above  men 
tioned,  leaving  my  provision  behind,  as  did  Captain  Dearborn 
and  the  three  other  officers.  After  we  got  over  these  rivers, 
Captain  Dearborn,  steering  by  a  bad  compass,  went  wrong 
about  two  miles,  the  company  following,  and  we  went  back 
again,  then  went  two  or  three  miles  to  a  little  bark  house, 
where  I  had  left  my  provision,  and  on  coming  there  found  that 
our  provision  was  stolen  by  Captain  Morgan's*  company. 
Goodrich's  company  came  to  the  lower  end  of  Chadeur  pond 
expecting  to  find  their  batteau  with  the  flour,  but  were  dis 
appointed. 

Oct'r  30.  I  set  out  in  a  birch  bark  canoe  with  Captain 
Dearborn  and  Captain  Ayres.  We  proceeded  to  the  lower 
end  of  the  pond,  where  Captain  Dearborn  left  the  canoe,  and 
Captain  Ayres  and  I  proceeded  down  Chadeur  river,  about 
three  miles,  and  came  to  a  riply  place,  which  was  very 
dangerous,  the  rocks  standing  up  all  over  the  river.  Here  a 
batteau  was  stove,  with  four  men,  and  one  man  drowned, 
named  George  Lmis.  I  got  safe  down  this  place,  and  from 
bad  to  worse ;  proceeded  till  night,  and  encamped  with  the 
company.  Goodrich's  company  set  out  early,  though  on 
empty  stomachs,  and  marched  about  ten  miles  in  hopes  to 
overtake  their  batteau  with  the  flour,  but  coming  to  a  small 
creek,  they  found  an  advertisement  set  up,  informing  them 
that  their  batteau  was  stove  and  the  flour  lost,  and  the  men 
with  difficulty  having  saved  their  lives.  This  was  melancholy 
news  to  them,  having  eaten  scarcely  anything  for  several  days, 
and  having  waded  through  ice  and  water,  and  were  a  great 
way  from  any  inhabitants,  and  knew  not  how  far  it  was.  They 
agreed  to  part,  and  the  heartiest  to  push  forward  as  fast  aa 
they  could. 

Oct'r  31.    This  day  I  took  my  pack  and  went  by  land,  at 

*  The  hero  of  the  "Cowpe:i»." 


880  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BURR. 

the  way,  to  inhabitants.  I  was  not  well,  having  the  flux, 
We  went  twenty-one  miles.  Goodrich's  company  marched 
three  miles  and  were  overtaken  by  Captain  Smith,  who  in 
formed  them  that  Captain  Goodrich  had  left  two  quarters  of  a 
dog  for  them.  They  stopped  and  sent  for  the  meat,  but  the 
men  returned  without  finding  it;  however,  some  of  them 
killed  another  dog*  which  belonged  to  us,  which  probably 
saved  some  of  their  lives.  Captain  Ward's  company  killed 
another  dog. 

NOVEMBER,  17  75. 

Nov'r  1.  Continued  unwell;  this  day  I  eat  the  last  of  my 
provision;  I  kept  with  the  company,  and  we  went  twenty 
miles. 

Nov'r  2.  Traveled  four  miles ;  I  shot  a  small  bird  called  a 
Bedee,  and  a  squirrel,  which  I  lived  upon  this  day.  About 
noon  we  met  some  Frenchmen  with  cattle  for  our  army,  and 
some  meal  in  a  canoe.  I  had  a  small  piece  of  meat  and  bread 
given  me;  yesterday  my  messmates  gave  away  victuals  to 
strangers  but  refused  me,  though  they  knew  I  had  mine  stolen 
from  me.  This  evening,  to  our  great  joy,  we  arrived  at  the 
first  French  house,  where  was  provisions  ready  for  us.  The 
first  victuals  I  got  was  some  boiled  rice,  which  I  bought  of 
the  Indians,  giving  one  shilling  and  four  pence  for  about  a  pint 
and  a  half.  Here  we  were  joined  by  about  seventy  or  eighty 
Indians,  all  finely  ornamented  in  their  way  with  broaphes, 
bracelets,  and  other  trinkets,  and  their  faces  painted.  I  had 
gone  barefoot  these  two  or  three  days,  and  wore  my  feet  sore. 

Nov'r  5.  Sunday — marched  about  twelve  miles.  Our 
Colonel  went  forward  and  got  beef  killed  for  us  every  ten  or 
twelve  miles,  and  served  us  potatoes  instead  of  bread.  I  stood 

*  This  dog  belonged  to  Captain  Dearborn,  and  was  a  great  favorite. 

My  dog  was  very  large  and  a  great  favorite.  I  gave  him  up  to  several 
of  Captain  Goodrich's  company.  They  carried  him  to  their  company,  and 
killed  and  divided  him  among  those  who  were  suffering  most  severely  with 
hunger.  They  ate  every  part  of  him,  not  excepting  his  entrails." — Lette 
tf  Gen.  Dearborn  to  the  Rev.  William  Allen. 


ARNOLD'S   EXPEDITION  TO   QUEBEC.  381 

gentry  over  one  Flood,  who  was  whipped  for  stealing  Captain 
Dearborn's  pocket  book.  This  was  at  St.  Mary's. 

Nov'r  6.  Marched  twenty  miles ;  very  bad  traveling,  as  it 
was  all  the  way  to  Quebec.  Twelve  miles  was  through 
woods,  in  the  night,  mid  leg  in  mud  and  snow.  I  traveled 
the  whole  day  without  eating,  and  could  not  get  any  house  to 
lay  in,  but  lodged  in  a  barn  all  night. 

Nov'r  7.  Marched  fifteen  miles;  snowed  all  day.  My 
money  being  gone  I  could  get  nothing  to  eat  till  night,  when 
there  was  an  ox  killed. 

Nov'r  8.  Marched  six  miles  and  came  to  Point  Levi,  on  the 
river  St.  Lawrence,  opposite  Quebec. 

Nov'r  9.  Our  people  took  a  prisoner,  who  was  a  midship 
man.*  Continued  at  Point  Levi ;  kept  guard  along  the  river 
side,  making  scaling  ladders  and  collecting  canoes  to  cross  the 
river ;  the  enemy  having  broken  all  the  boats  they  could  find. 

Nov'r  13.  In  the  evening  crossed  St.  Lawrence  at  the  mill 
above  Point  Levi,  and  landed  at  Wolfe's  cove.  I  went  back 
twice  to  fetch  over  the  people,  and  stayed  till  day.  The  town 
was  alarmed  by  our  Colonel  firing  at  a  boat  on  the  river.  We 
went  to  Major  Caldwell's  house,  about  two  miles  from  the 
city,  where  we  were  quartered ;  a  whole  company  having  only 
one  small  room. 

Nov'r  14.  One  of  our  sentries  was  taken  by  the  enemy, 
which  alarmed  us ;  we  expected  they  were  come  to  give  us 
battle,  and  the  whole  detachment  marched  within  musket 

*  "The  boat  soon  struck  the  bank,  and  a  midshipman,  a  lad  named 
McKenzie,  brother  to  the  captain  of  the  frigate,  sprang  ashore.  The  tide 
ebbing  at  the  time,  the  boat's  crew  were  ordered  to  shove  off,  and  to  go 
higher  up  to  a  deeper  landing-place.  While  obeying  this  order  they  dis 
covered  the  Americans  on  the  bank  above,  and  immediately  pulled  off 
shore,  leaving  their  officer  to  his  fate.  Morgan,  frustrated  in  the  design 
he  had  formed  to  surprise  and  capture  the  boat's  crew,  now  opened  a  fire 
opon  them.  The  midshipman,  comprehending  at  once  his  situation, 
plunged  into  the  river,  in  the  hope  to  regain  his  boat ;  but  being  deserted 
by  the  boat's  crew,  who  pulled  out  still  further  from  the  reach  of  danger, 
%nd  noticing  the  balls  which  now  struck  the  water  around  him  in  fearful 
proximity  to  his  head,  he  turned  toward  the  shore,  and  otherwise  signified 
hi*  willingness  to  surrender." — Life  of  Gen.  Morgan,  p.  79. 


S82  LIFE      OF     AARON     BURR. 

flhot  of  the  walls,  but  saw  none  to  oppose  us ;  but  when  we 
were  turned  to  go  back  they  fired  several  cannon  shots  at  us 
without  doing  any  damage. 

Nov'r  19.  I  was  employed  all  the  fore  part  of  last  night  in 
butcLering  for  the  army,  and  about  four  in  the  morning  got 
on  our  march  and  went  to  Point  aux  Trembles,  about  twenty- 
six  miles  above  Quebec.  We  kept  guard  at  the  river 
Caroche. 


DECEMBER,  1775. 

Dec'r  5.  The  detachment  marched  on  their  way  to  Quebec. 
We  were  quartered  in  a  nunnery,  near  the  town,  but  it  was 
wanted  for  a  hospital,  and  we  went  over  the  river  St.  Charles, 
where  we  continued. 

Dec'r  10.     Sunday. — Busy  making  scaling  ladders,  &c. 

Dec'r  25.  Had  orders  to  give  our  opinion  whether  to  scale 
ur  not. 

Dec'r  26.  Turned  out  to  storm  the  town,  but  it  was  too 
light. 

Dec'r  31.  Sunday. — About  four  in  the  morning,  were  mus 
tered  in  order  to  storm  the  town ;  it  snowed  and  stormed  and 
was  very  dark.  Our  company  had  not  timely  notice  of  the 
attack,  which  occasioned  us  to  be  too  late,  for  when  the  firing 
began  we  had  a  mile  and  a  half  to  march.  We  made  all  pos 
sible  haste,  and  met  Colonel  Arnold  going  back  wounded.  I 
was  on  guard  in  St.  Roque  that  night,  and  went  forward  with 
the  main  body,  and  was  not  with  the  company.  The  company 
went  beyond  Palace  Gate,  the  enemy  firing  briskly  at  them 
from  the  walls,  and  killed  two  or  three.  The  enemy  sallied 
out,  and  they  surrendered,  as  did  all  the  detachment,  except 
gome  few  who  made  their  escape.  We  were  put  into  a  mon 
astery,  among  the  friars ;  at  night  we  had  some  biscuit  dis« 
tributed  among  us. 

JANUARY,  1776. — PRISONER  IN  QUEBEC. 
Jan'y  1.   We  had  a  straw  bed  between  two,  and  a  blanket 


ARNOLD'S   EXPEDITION   TO    QtJlEBEC.  383 

man,  served  to  us.    We  had  some  poiter  given  us. 
Snowed  in  the  morning. 

Jan'y  3.  We  were  ordered  to  give  a  list  of  our  names,  age, 
where  we  were  born,  and  what  regiment  we  belonged  to. 
Snowed  in  the  morning. 

Jan'y  4.  All  the  old  countrymen  were  called  into  an  other 
room  and  examined.  Snowed  in  the  morning. 

Jan'y  5.  They  were  called  for  again,  and  made  to  take 
arms  for  the  king  until  the  31st  May. 

Jan'y  9.  Very  dark  weather  and  snowed.  Some  more 
taken  with  the  small  pox,  and  we  expect  it  will  be  a  general 
disorder,  for  we  are  very  thick,  nasty,  and  lousy.  Our  living 
is  salt  pork,  biscuit,  rice,  and  butter,  and  a  sufficiency  allowed 
if  we  were  not  checked  in  our  weight,  by  one  Dewey,  who  is 
appointed  our  quartermaster-sergeant,  to  deal  out  our  provi 
sion ;  and  instead  of  being  our  friend,  proves  our  greatest 
enemy,  defrauding  us  of  great  part  of  our  provision.  We  have 
not  above  three  ounces  of  pork  a  day,  and  not  half-pint  of  rice 
and  two  biscuits  a  day. 

Jan'y  10.  Fair,  but  excessive  cold.  I  went  to  the  hospital, 
having  the  small  pox. 

Jan'y  18.  Cloudy  and  cold;  several  taken  with  the  small 
pox ;  went  to  the  hospital ;  some  of  our  men's  clothes  brought 
into  town  from  our  army,  but  none  for  our  company.  I  am 
now  got  almost  well,  having  had  the  small  pox  lightly.  A 
Frenchman  being  at  the  point  of  death,  the  nuns  came  and 
read  over  him,  afterward  the  priest  came  in,  then  they  fetched 
in  a  table,  covered  with  a  white  cloth,  and  lighted  two  wax 
candles,  about  three  feet  long,  and  set  them  on  the  table. 
The  priest  put  on  a  white  robe  over  his  other  garments,  and 
the  nuns  kneeled  down,  and  the  priest  stood  and  read  a  sen 
tence,  and  then  the  nuns  a  sentence,  and  so  they  went  on  some 
time ;  then  the  priest  prayed  by  himself;  then  the  nuns,  and 
then  the  priest  again ;  then  they  read  altogether  a  spell,  and 
finally  the  priest  alone ;  then  the  priest  stroked  the  man's  face, 
and  then  they  took  away  their  candles  and  tables,  &c.,  and 
ttie  man  died. 

Jan'y  20.    Dewey  complained  of  fifteen  of  our  men  who 


384  LIFE    OF    AARON    B'TTRR. 

had  agreed  to  fight  their  way  out ;  two  of  them  were  put  in 
irons. 

Jan'y  21.  Cloudy  and  cold ;  cleared  in  the  afternoon.  We 
were  ordered  to  make  a  return  of  all  the  tradesman  among  us. 
About  this  time  two  of  our  company,  who  were  listed  into  the 
king's  service,  made  their  escape  out  of  town.  This  day  I 
came  out  of  the  hospital. 

Jan'y  31.  The  time  seems  very  long;  no  employment. 
Nothing  heard  or  seen  but  playing  at  cards,  swearing,  and 
some  playing  away  all  their  allowance  of  victuals ;  some  em 
ploy  themselves  in  making  wooden  spoons,  little  boxes,  &c.; 
cloudy. 


FEBRUARY,  1776. 

Feb'y  10.  An  excessive  bad  snow  storm;  some  sentries 
froze  dead. 

Feb'y  15.  Clear  weather.  One  of  our  men  named  Parrot, 
put  in  irons  for  calling  one  of  the  emigrants  a  tory.  Our  army 
opened  a  battery. 

Feb'y  16.  All  the  old  countrymen  brought  into  prison 
again,  because  six  of  them  deserted  last  night. 

Feb'y  24.  Various  reports  concerning  us ;  some  say  we 
shall  be  sent  to  England  and  sold  as  slaves  to  some  island ; 
others  say  that  we  shall  be  sent  to  Boston  and  exchanged ; 
others  say  that  we  shall  certainly  be  hanged ;  but  we  are  in 
hopes  that  our  people  will  release  us  by  taking  the  town. 

MARCH,  1776. 

March  1. — Clear  and  cold;  one  Brown  put  in  irons  for 
answering  one  of  the  sentries  who  abused  him. 

March  13. — We  were  removed  to  the  goal,  near  St.  John's 
gate,  which  is  bomb-proof.  Here  we  have  the  liberty  of  a 
yard  of  about  a  quarter  of  an  acre. 

March  17.  Sunda),  pleasant  weather.  The  guard  set  over 
is  are  old  Frenchmen  and  boys,  who  are  very  saucy,  telling 


ARNOLD'S   EXPEDITION  ic   QUEBEC.          385 

us  we  shall  be  hanged ;  pointing  their  bayonets  at  us ;  threat 
ening  to  shoot  us  for  opening  a  window,  or  any  such  trifle. 

March  21.  Clear  and  cold.  The  French  guard  of  boys  and 
old  men  are  very  saucy — threatening  us  daily. 

March  26.  Last  night  one  of  our  men  escaped  out  of  goal 
and  got  clear.  About  this  time  a  plan  was  laid  for  our  en 
largement,  and  we  prepared  to  break  out  and  make  our 
escape,  by  seizing  the  guard.  Clear  and  cold. 

March  31.  Sunday.  Snowed;  our  scheme  found  out ;  the 
sentry  hearing  some  noise  in  the  cellar,  search  was  made,  and 
some  suspicion  raised  which  might  have  passed  off  had  not 
one  of  our  men,  John  Hall,  discovered  the  whole  affair,  and 
all  the  sergeants  and  corporals  were  put  in  irons. 

APRIL,  1776. 

April  1.  Fair  weather.  This  morning  the  guard  turned 
out  and  fired  some  time  before  the  goal ;  then  the  alarm  bell 
rang,  and  the  cannon  on  the  walls  were  fired  in  order  to  draw 
our  army  near  the  walls  that  they  might  cut  them  off  with 
grape  shot.  This  day  we  were  almost  all  in  irons. 

April  3.  Canonading  on  both  sides.  Our  army  are  erect 
ing  a  battery  at  Point  Levi.  Cloudy,  and  rained  in  the  after 
noon. 

April  14.  Sunday.  Major  McKenzie  came  in  and  took 
Captain  Morgan's  company  out  of  irons.  Clear  in  the  morn 
ing  ;  cloudy  almost  all  day. 

April  15.  This  day  the  Yorkers'  time  was  out,  and  they 
wanted  to  go  home,  but  were  compelled  to  stay. 

April  17.  Had  a  week's  allowance  of  fresh  beef,  which 
had  been  killed  three  or  four  months,  of  which  they  boasted 
much,  telling  us  it  was  more  than  our  army  could  get.  Windy 
and  cold. 

April  22  The  time  seems  long;  all  in  irons;  though  most 
of  us  pull  them  off  at  night.  I  never  lay  but  two  nights  with 
them  on. 

April  28.  Some  of  our  officers  tried  to  make  their  escape, 
but  were  discovered  and  put  in  irons.  Fair  weather. 


388  LIFE    OF    AARON    BURR. 

MAY,  1776. 

May  6.  Pleasant.  About  sunrise  the  town  was  alarmed, 
and  three  ships  came  up,  landed  some  troops,  and  sailed  up 
the  river.  The  troops  marched  out  at  noon,  and  our  army 
retreated,  leaving  a  few  sick  men  behind  them,  who  were 
brought  into  town.* 

May  7.  Gen.  Carleton  came  in  and  ordered  our  irons  to  be 
taken  off.  Pleasant  day. 

May  10.  Two  riflemen  were  taken  out  of  goal;  we  don't 
know  on  what  terms.  Same  day,  two  Jersey  dumpling  eaters 
were  brought  in ;  they  were  found  among  the  bushes,  not  hav 
ing  tried  to  make  their  escape,  being  too  heavy  laden  with 
dumplings  and  pork,  a  knapsack  full  of  dumplings,  and  a 
quantity  of  flour.  Fair  in  the  morning ;  rained  at  night. 

May  27.    Ten  ships  arrived  with  troops. 

JUNE,  1776. 

June  1 .    The  Brunswickers  arrived ;  said  to  be  six  thousand. 

June  4.  A  royal  salute  fired,  being  the  king's  birth-day. 
Cloudy. 

June  5.  Pleasant  weather.  Gov.  Carleton  came  in  to  us 
and  offered  to  send  us  home  on  condition  not  to  bear  arms 
again. 

June  8.  Fair  weather.  Hear  that  there  are  three  thousand 
of  our  men  at  Sartigan, 

June  9.  Fair  weather.  Sunday.  Hear  that  they  landed 
three  thousand  men,  and  our  army  defeated  them. 

June  10.  Fair  weather.  Hear  that  two  thousand  of  our 
men  were  surrounded  and  taken. 

June  13.    Fair  weather.    Hear  they  have  taken  two  hun- 

*  General  Thomas,  who  was  appointed  to  succeed  Montgomery,  arrived 
early  in  May ;  but  Carleton  having  received  reinforcements  under  Bur- 
goyne,  the  Americans  were  obliged  to  make  a  hasty  retreat,  leaving  theii 
•tores  and  flick  behind.  The  latter  were  kindly  treated,  and  finally  senl 
home. — Lossing's  Field  Book  of  the  Revolution,  vol.  i.  p.  202. 


ABNOLD'S  EXPEDITION  TO  QUEBEC.  387 

flred  of  our  men,  who  are  to  be  sent  to  Halifax.  Heard  that 
our  men  had  sunk  the  Commodore. 

June  1 7.  Fair  weather.  Hear  that  our  army  have  killed 
and  taken  four  thousand  Dutchmen. 

June  19.  A  thunder  storm,  with  hail  stones  as  big  as  2  oz. 
balls ;  a  young  woman  was  killed  by  the  lightning. 

June  23.  Sunday.  Fair  weather.  Hear  that  our  men 
drove  the  king's  troops. 

June  24.  Fair.  Hear  that  our  army  have  retreated  out  of 
Canada. 

June  25.  Fair  weather.  Hear  that  they  have  brought 
three  hundred  Jersey  blues,  prisoners,  to  town. 

June  29.  Fair  weather.  Hear  that  peace  is  proclaimed; 
also,  that  they  have  killed  four  thousand  of  our  men  and  taken 
ten  thousand,  and  that  General  Washington  is  killed. 

June  30.  Sunday.  We  hear  there  is  a  French  fleet  come 
in  at  Philadelphia,  of  seventy  sail.  Two  ships  came  up  to 
Quebec. 

JULY,  1776. 

July  4.  Fair  weather.  We  hear  that  they  are  waiting  for 
Home  officers  that  they  have  taken,  to  come  here,  and  then  we 
shall  be  exchanged.  Two  prisoners  brought  in.  Thunder  at 
uight. 

July  5.  Rainy  morn;  clear  afternoon.  One  of  our  men 
was  so  indiscreet  as  to  pull  out  one  of  the  iron  bars,  in  sight 
of  the  sentry.  When  he  was  relieved  he  fetched  the  officer  of 
the  guard  and  showed  him  what  had  been  done,  and  search 
being  made,  some  more  were  found  out,  which  caused  much 
suspicion  of  us  all.  The  prisoners  brought  in  last  night  in 
iorm  us  that  the  Indians  scalped  many  of  our  soldiers,  some 
of  them  aliv^e;  but  that  General  Carleton,  to  his  great  honor, 
has  refused  to  pay  these  murdering  fiends  for  any  more  scalps, 
but  will  pay  them  the  same  reward  for  every  prisoner. 

July  6.  Fair  weather.  Saw  three  ships  working  in.  The 
man  who  Dulled  out  the  grate  was  informed  of,  so  that  we 
hope  it  will  have  no  ill  effect. 


388  LIFE      OF     AARON     BURR. 

July  7.  Sunday.  Some  showers  in  the  morning.  The  man 
who  pulled  out  the  grate  beat  the  man  who  informed  of  him, 
and  he  complained  to  the  Provost.  We  hear  that  they  have 
sent  an  express  to  the  Governor,  informing  him  we  have  made 
another  attempt  to  break  out ;  we  have  also  a  report  that  our 
officers  had  attempted  to  set  the  place  they  were  confined  in 
on  fire.  This,  as  well  as  many  more  reports,  are  not  worth 
belief. 

July  11.  Fine  morning;  rained  in  the  afternoon  and  night. 
Hear  that  Col.  McLane  is  taken,  and  two  thousand  of  their 
men,  crossing  the  lake,  and  that  there  is  a  French  fleet  coming 
here.  We  also  hear  that  the  German  troops  are  to  return 
home. 

July  12.  Rained  almost  all  day.  Hear  that  we  are  to  sail 
for  New  York  in  less  than  ten  days. 

July  ]  4.  Sunday.  Fair  weather.  We  hear  we  are  to  em 
bark  to-morrow. 

July  15.  Fair  and  moderate.  Hear  the  Governor  is  ex 
pected  in  town  soon,  and  then  it  will  be  known  what  will  be 
done  with  us. 

July  17.  Showery  cold.  We  have  bread  served  to  us,  in 
stead  of  our  allowance  of  butter. 

July  18.  Fair  and  temperate.  Hear  that  Col.  McLane  is 
come  to  town,  and  that  the  Governor  is  expected  every 
minute. 

July  19.  Cloudy  and  cold;  the  weather  is  so  cold  that  the 
Canadians  do  not  expect  a  good  crop  of  corn.  It  is  so  cold 
as  to  wear  a  great  coat.  We  hear  that  Col.  McLane  says  we 
Bhall  not  be  sent  home. 

July  20.  Fair  weather.  Connor,  one  of  the  prisoners  who 
came  into  goal  last,  was  taken  and  put  in  some  place  of  con 
finement,  and,  as  we  suppose,  put  in  irons  for  talking  im 
pertinently  to  the  Captain  of  the  Provost  guard. 

July  21.  Rainy  weather,  with  thunder.  Hear  that  we  are 
to  go  home  very  soon ;  heard  from  our  officers,  who  gave  us 
encouragement.  We  have  also  a  report  that  the  French, 
Spaniards  and  Prussians  are  at  war  with  Great  Britain,  and 
that  there  is  a  large  fleet  in  the  bay  of  St.  Lawrence. 


ABNOLD'S   EXPEDITION  TO   QUEBEC.         389 

July  22.  Fair  weather.  Saw  a  ship  sail  out.  This  after- 
ftoon  the  Governor  arrived  from  the  army,  and  was  saluted 
with  fifteen  guns.  This  gives  us  hope  that  we  shall  be  sent 
home. 

July  23.  Cloudy  morning;  fair  all  day.  One  of  our  com 
pany  is  out  of  his  right  mind. 

July  24.  Rainy  weather  for  part  of  the  day.  We  hear  we 
are  to  be  sent  to  Montreal  and  exchanged. 

July  25.     Fair.     Hear  we  are  not  to  go  home. 

July  26.  Some  rain.  We  hear  that  the  Governor  has  sent 
to  let  our  officers  know  that  within  three  days  he  will  appoint 
a  day  when  to  send  us  home.  Saw  a  brig  and  a  ship  come  in. 

July  27.  Fair  weather.  We  hear  that  the  Governor  has 
let  our  officers  know  that  he  will  send  us  home  on  the  4th  or 
5th  of  August.  This  day  we  saw  the  French  priest  going  to 
visit  a  sick  person.  He  was  attended  by  about  twenty  people, 
as  follows :  first  a  man  goes  ringing  a  little  hand  bell,  then 
two  men  or  boys,  carrying  two  lanterns,  with  lighted  candles 
on  poles,  about  ten  feet  long ;  then  comes  the  priest,  under  a 
canopy,  supported  by  two  men ;  it  is  like  the  teaster  of  a  bed. 
The  priest  is  dressed  in  white  linen  robes  over  his  black 
clothes,  and  things  as  heavy  as  boards  tied  to  his  knees,  and 
hang  dangling  and  knocking  against  his  shins.  They  have 
crosses  on  these  two  things.  After  the  priest  follow  the 
friends  and  children  of  the  sick  person,  and  any  others  that 
happen  to  be  going  that  way  who  think  they  are  doing  good 
to  join  in  with  the  rest.  Every  one  that  hears  the  bell  is 
obliged  to  kneel  down  while  they  pass  by.  The  priest  has  a 
ijreat  cross  upon  his  breast,  and  a  string  of  wooden  beads 
iianging  by  his  side.  The  people  all  have  these  beads  when 
they  go  to  church,  to  help  them  remember  their  prayers. 
They  also  use  the  same  ceremony  when  they  go  to  a  burying, 
and  have  choristers  singing  before  the  corpse. 

July  28.  Fair  weather.  This  day,  Mr.  Murray,  barrack 
master,  came  in  and  told  us  we  were  to  sail  in  a  week.  We 
now  begin  to  believe  there  is  something  in  it,  though  we  have 
had  so  many  different  reports  that  we  can  scarce  believe  any 
thing  we  hear.  We  are  all  to  have  a  shirt  a  piece  given  us. 


890  LIFE     OP     AAEON     BURR. 

July  29.  Rainy  weather.  Sias,  the  man  who  is  out  of  hid 
§enses,  grows  worse,  talking  of  killing  some  of  the  people,  &c. 

July  31.  Fair  weather.  We  hear  a  report  that  our  army 
has  reentered  Canada  and  retaken  Fort  St.  Johns.  We  have 
been  seven  months  in  prison  to-day. 


AUGUST,  1776. 

August  2.  Fair  weather.  The  news  to-day  is,  that  our 
people  have  wounded  the  German  General  mortally,  and 
taken  five  hundred  prisoners  at  Lake  Champlain.  We  have 
it  confirmed  that  we  are  to  go  on  board  the  vessel  on  Sunday 
next. 

August  3.  Fair  weather.  Hear  that  our  sick  men,  at  the 
hospital,  are  to  go  on  board  this  evening.  We  expect  to  go 
to-morrow  morning. 

August  4.     Sunday.    Fair  weather. 

August  5.  Fair  weather.  This  afternoon  we  have  each  of 
us  a  shirt  given  to  us,  and  thirty-five  of  our  men  were  sent  on 
board,  after  signing  the  paper. 


VL 


FROM  THE  CORRESPONDENCE  BETWEEN  AARON  BURR  AND 
HIS  WIFE. 

MRS.  BURR  TO  AARON  BURR. — Albany,  March  25,  1783. 
w  Some  think  absence  tends  to  increase  affection ;  the  greater 
part  that  it  wears  it  away.  I  believe  neither,  but  that  it  only 
tends  to  prove  how  far  the  hoart  is  capable  of  loving;  o* 


CORRESPONDENCE      WITH     HIS    WIFE.  391 

rather,  whether  it  is  real  or  imaginary.  When  the  latter, 
every  object  that  amuses,  blots  out  the  idea  of  the  absent;  we 
find  that  they  are  not  so  necessary  to  our  happiness  as 
we  had  fancied.  But  when  that  love  is  real,  what  can  amuse, 
what  engage  the  mind,  to  banish,  for  a  single  instant,  the  ob 
ject  of  its  delight  ?  It  hates  every  necessity  that  wrests  it  an 
instant  from  the  contemplation  of  its  beauties ;  its  virtues 
are  ever  presenting  themselves  to  increase  our  regret,  and 
suggest  innumerable  fears  for  its  safety.  Such  have  been  the 
occupations  of  this  day.  I  tremble  at  every  noise ;  new  ap 
prehensions  are  ever  alarming  me.  Every  tender  sensation  is 
awake  to  thee." 

MRS.  BURR  TO  AARON  BURR. — Albany,  August  14,  1783. 
"  How  unfortunate,  my  dearest  Aaron,  is  our  present  separa 
tion.  I  never  shall  have  resolution  to  consent  to  another. 
We  are  certainly  formed  of  different  materials ;  and  our  un 
dertakings  must  coincide  with  them. 

"  A  few  hours  after  I  wrote  you  by  Colonel  Lewis,  our  sweet 
infant  was  taken  ill,  very  ill.  My  mind  and  spirits  have  been 
on  the  rack  from  that  moment  to  this.  When  she  sleeps,  I 
watch  anxiously ;  when  she  wakes,  anxious  fears  accompany 
every  motion.  I  talked  of  my  love  towards  her,  but  I  knew 
it  not  till  put  to  this  unhappy  test.  I  know  not  whether  to 
give  her  medicine  or  withhold  it :  doubt  and  terror  are  the 
only  sensations  of  which  I  am  sensible.  She  has  slept  better 
last  night,  and  appears  more  lively  this  morning  than  since 
her  illness.  This  has  induced  me  to  postpone  an  express  to 
you,  which  I  have  had  in  readiness  since  yesterday.  If  this 
meets  you,  I  need  .not  dwell  upon  my  wish. 

"  I  will  only  put  an  injunction  on  your  riding  so  fast,  or  m 
\he  heat,  or  dew.  Remember  your  presence  is  to  support,  to 
console  your  Theo.,  perhaps  to  rejoice  with  her  at  the  restora 
tion  of  our  much-loved  child.  Let  us  encourage  this  hope ; 
encourage  it,  at  least,  till  you  see  me,  which  I  flatter  myself  will 
be  before  this  can  reach  you.  Some  kind  spirit  will  whisper 
to  my  Aaron  how  much  his  tender  attention  is  wanted  to  sup 
port  his  Theo.;  how  much  his  love  is  necessary  to  give  her  that 


392  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BUEE. 

fortitude,  that  resolution,  which  nature  has  denied  her  but 
through  his  medium.     Adieu.    THEODOSIA." 

MES.  BUEE  TO  AAEON  BUEE. — New  York,  March  22,  1784. 
"  My  Aaron  scarce  quitted  the  door  when  I  regretted  my  pas- 
siveness.  Why  did  I  consent  to  his  departure  ?  Can  interest 
repay  the  sacrifice  ?  can  aught  on  earth  compensate  for  his 
presence?  Why  did  I  hesitate  to  decide?  Ten  thousand 
fears  await  me.  What  thought  suggested  my  assent  ?  The 
anxiety  he  might  suffer  were  he  to  meet  with  obstacles  to 
raising  the  sum  required ;  should  his  views  be  frustrated  for 
want  of  the  precaution  this  journey  might  secure;  his  morti 
fication  ;  mine,  at  not  having  the  power  to  relieve  him,  were 
arguments  that  silenced  my  longing  wish  to  hold  him  near 
me ;  near  me  forever.  My  Aaron,  dark  is  the  hour  that  separ 
ates  my  soul  from  itself. 

"  Thus  pensive,  surrounded  with  gloom,  thy  Theo.  sat,  be 
wailing  thy  departure.  Every  breath  of  wind  whistled  terror ; 
every  noise  at  the  door  was  mingled  with  hope  of  thy  return, 
and  fear  of  thy  perseverance,  when  Brown  arrived  with  the 
word — embarked — the  wind  high,  the  water  rough.  Heaven 
protect  my  Aaron ;  preserve  him,  restore  him  to  his  adoring 
mistress.  A  tedious  hour  elapsed,  when  our  son  was  the  joy 
ful  messenger  of  thy  safe  landing  at  Paulus  Hook.  Stiff  with 
cold,  how  must  his  papa  have  fared  ?  Yet,  grateful  for  his 
safety,  I  blessed  my  God.  I  envied  the  ground  which  bore 
my  pilgrim.  I  pursued  each  footstep.  Love  engrossed  his 
mind;  his  last  adieu  to  Bartow  was  the  most  persuasive 
token — c  Wait  till  I  reach  the  opposite  shore,  that  you  may 
boar  the  glad  tidings  to  your  trembling  mother."  O,  Aaron, 
how  I  thank  thee !  Love  in  all  its  delirium  hovers  about  me ; 
like  opium,  it  lulls  me  to  soft  repose !  Sweet  serenity  speaks, 
'tis  my  Aaron's  spirit  presides.  Surrounding  objects  check 
my  visionary  charm.  I  fly  to  my  room  and  give  the  day  to 
thee." 

AAEON  BUEE  TO  MES.  BUEE. — Albany,  October  29,  1784, 
M  Mr.  Watts  this  instant  acquaints  me  that  he  is  just  setting 


CORRESPONDENCE    WI1H    HIS    WIFE.  303 

oft'  for  New  York,  I  run  from  court  to  waft  you  a  memoran 
dum  of  affection.  I  have  been  remarkably  well ;  was  fortun 
ate  in  my  journey.  The  trial  of  Livingston  and  Hoffman  is 
now  arguing.  It  began  on  Thursday  of  last  week,  and  will 
not  conclude  till  to-night.  No  other  business  has  been  or  will 
be  done  this  term.  All  this  cursed  long  absence  for  nothing. 

"  I  can  not  leave  this  till  Sunday  or  Monday.  Then  to 
Westchester  Court.  The  return  to  joy  arid  Theo.  cannot  be 
till  Thursday  or  Friday,  and  that  depending  on  my  business 
in  Westchester.  Miss  Yates  is  on  her  passage  to  New  York 
to  spend  eight  or  ten  days. 

"  I  read  your  memorandum  ten  times  a  day,  and  observed 
it  as  religiously  as  ever  monk  did  his  devotion.  Yesterday  I 
burnt  it.  To  me  it  seemed  like  sacrilege. 

"  I  fear  I  did  not  caution  you  enough  against  sleeping  in 
the  new  house.  For  Heaven's  sake  (or  rather  for  my  sake,) 
don't  think  of  it  till  I  come  and  judge.  I  left  you  an  im 
mensity  of  trouble,  which  I  fear  has  not  promoted  your  health. 
Kiss  our  dear  little  flock  for  me.  Adieu." 

AAEON  BUBB  TO  MBS.  BUBB. — Philadelphia,  April,  1785. 
"  I  shall  be  released  on  Tuesday  evening,  which  will  permit 
me  to  see  thee  on  Thursday  morning.  Mr.  Colt  will  inform 
you  about  everything.  Unfortunately,  a  gentleman  with 
whom  part  of  our  business  is  has  left  town.  If  he  should  re 
turn  to-morrow  morning,  I  shall  be  the  happiest  of  swains  on 
Wednesday  morning.  I  am  very  minute  in  these  calculations, 
because  I  make  them  very  often.  Does  Theodosia  employ 
herself  ever  in  the  same  way  ? 

"  I  have  been  to  twenty  places  to  find  something  to  please 
;'ou,  but  can  see  nothing  that  answers  my  wishes ;  you  will 
Jherefore,  I  fear,  only  receive  your  affectionate  A.  BURR." 

MBS.  BUER  TO  AARON  BURR. — New  York,  April,  Saturday, 
;785.  "  I  persuade  myself  this  is  the  last  day  you  spend  in 
Philadelphia;  that  to-morrow's  stage  will  bring  you  to 
Elizabethtown ;  that  Tuesday  morning  you  will  breakfast 
vith  those  who  p^ss  the  tedious  hours  regretting  your  ab- 


S94  LIFE      OF     AARON     BURR. 

eence,  and  counting  time  till  you  return.  Even  little  Tlieo. 
gives  ap  her  place  on  mamma's  lap  to  tell  dear  papa — '  come 
home.'  Tell  Augustine  he  does  not  know  how  much  he  owes 
me.  'Tis  a  sacrifice  I  would  not  make  to  any  human  being 
but  himself,  nor  even  to  him  again.  It  is  the  last  time  of  my 
life  I  submit  to  your  absence,  except  from  necessity  to  the 
calls  of  your  profession.  All  is  well  at  home.  Ireson  gone  on 
his  intended  journey.  Morris  very  little  here.  The  boys  very 
attentive  and  industrious;  much  more  so  for  being  alone. 
"N"ot  a  loud  word  spoken  by  the  servants.  All,  in  silent  ex 
pectation,  await  the  return  of  their  much-loved  lord ;  but  all 
faintly  when  compared  to  thy  THEO." 

AARON  BURR  TO  MRS.  BURR. — Albany,  April,  1785.  "I 
feel  impatient,  and  almost  angry,  that  I  have  received  no  letter 
from  you,  though  I  really  do  not  know  of  any  opportunity  by 
which  you  could  have  written ;  but  it  seems  an  endless  while 
to  wait  till  Saturday  night  before  I  can  hear  from  you.  How 
convenient  would  a  little  of  the  phlegm  of  this  region  be  upon 
such  occasions  as  these !  I  fear  very  much  for  our  dear  petite. 
I  tell  every  one  who  asks  me  that  both  she  and  you  are  well, 
because  I  abhor  the  cold,  uninterested  inquiries,  which  I  know 
would  be  made  if  I  should  answer  otherwise.  Do  you  want 
the  pity  of  such  ?  Those  you  thought  your  very  good  friends 
here  have  forgotten  you. 

Mademoiselle  Y.  is  very  civil.  Are  the  Wadsworths  with 
you  ?  Have  you  not  been  tormented  with  some  embarrass 
ments  which  I  wickedly  left  you  to  struggle  with  ?  I  hope 
you  don't  believe  the  epithet.  But  why  these  questions,  to 
which  I  can  receive  no  answer  but  in  person  ?  I  nevertheless 
fondly  persuade  myself  that  I  shall  receive  answers  to  them 
all,  and  many  more  about  yourself,  which  I  have  in  mind, 
notwithstanding  you  will  not  have  seen  this.  There  is  such 
a  sympathy  in  our  ideas  and  feeling,  that  you  can't  but  know 
what  will  most  interest  me." 

AARON  BURR  TO  MRS.  BURR. — Chester,  May,  1785.  "1 
strayed  this  morning  for  an  hour  or  two  in  the  woods,  where 


CORRESPONDENCE      WITH     HIS     WIFE.         395 

I  lay  on  a  rock  to  enjoy  the  wild  retreat.  The  cheerfulness 
of  all  around  me  led  me  to  ask  why  all  animated  nature  en 
joyed  its  being  but  man  ?  Why  man  alone  is  discontented, 
anxious — sacrificing  the  present  to  idle  expectations; — expec 
tations  which,  if  answered,  are  in  like  manner  sacrificed. 
Never  enjoying,  always  hoping?  Answer,  tu  mihi  magna 
Apollo.  I  would  moralize,  but  time — and  my  companions  are 
coming  in.  Let  me  hear  of  your  health.  Avoid  all  fatigue. 
Judge  Yates  proposes  to  come  down  with  me.  Quoi  faire  ? 

"  My  good  landlady  is  out  of  tea,  and  begs  me  to  send  for 
a  pound.  Put  it  up  very  well.  I  am  in  better  health  than 
spirits.  Adieu." 

MRS.  BURR  TO  AARON  BURR. — New  York,  May,  1785. 
"  I  am  vexed  that  I  did  not  inquire  your  route  more  particu 
larly.  I  cannot  trace  you  in  imagination,  nor  find  your  spirit 
when  at  rest ;  nor  dare  I  count  the  hours  to  your  return. 
They  are  still  too  numerous,  and  add  to  my  impatience.  I 
expect  my  reward  in  the  health  you  acquire.  If  it  should 
prove  otherwise,  how  I  shall  hate  my  acquiescence  to  your 
departure.  I  anticipate  good  or  evil  as  my  spirits  rise  or  fall ; 
but  I  know  no  medium ;  my  mind  cannot  reach  that  stage  of 
indifference.  I  fancy  all  my  actions  directed  by  you;  this 
tends  to  spur  my  industry,  and  give  calm  to  my  leisure. 

"  The  family  as  you  left  it.  Bartow  never  quits  the  office, 
and  is  perfectly  obliging.  Your  dear  little  daughter  seeks  you 
twenty  times  a  day ;  calls  you  to  your  meals,  and  will  not 
suffer  your  chair  to  be  filled  by  any  of  the  family.  Judge 
Hobart  called  here  yesterday;  says  you  are  absent  for  a 
month.  I  do  not  admit  that  among  possibilities,  and  there 
fore  am  not  alarmed.  I  feel  obliged  to  Mr.  Wickham  for  his 
delay,  though  I  dare  not  give  scope  to  my  pen ;  my  heart  dic 
tates  too  freely.  O,  my  Aaron !  how  many  tender,  grateful 
Ihings  rush  to  my  mind  in  this  moment ;  how  much  fortitude 
do  I  summon  to  suppress  them !  You  will  do  justice  to  their 
lilence ;  to  the  inexpressible  affection  of  your  plus  tendr* 
amie." 


896  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

AARON  BURR  TO  MRS.  BURR. — Chester,  May,  1785.  "This 
morning  came  your  kind,  your  affectionate,  your  truly  wel 
come  letter  of  Monday  evening.  Where  did  it  loiter  so  long  ? 
Nothing  in  my  absence  is  so  flattering  to  me  as  your  health 
and  cheerfulness.  I  then  contemplate  nothing  so  eagerly  as 
my  return ;  amuse  myself  with  ideas  of  my  own  happiness, 
and  dwell  on  the  sweet  domestic  joys  which  I  fancy  prepared 
for  me. 

Nothing  is  so  unfriendly  to  every  species  of  enjoyment  as 
melancholy.  Gloom,  however  dressed,  however  caused,  is 
incompatible  with  friendship.  They  can  not  have  place  in  the 
mind  at  the  same  time.  It  is  the  secret,  the  malignant  foe  of 
sentiment  and  love.  Adieu." 

MRS.  BURR  TO  AARON  BURR. —  New  York,  May,  1785. 
"  Your  dear  letter  was  handed  me  this  day,  at  a  moment 
which,  if  possible,  increased  its  value.  I  have  a  little  fever 
hanging  about  me,  which  tends  to  depress  my  spirits  for  the 
time.  Your  moralizing  changed  my  dullness  to  a  pleasing 
melancholy.  I  am  mortified  at  the  interruption  it  met,  and 
impatient  to  renew  the  theme ;  to  renew  it  in  a  more  pleasing 
manner  than  even  your  letters  afford.  When  my  health  is  ill, 
I  find  your  absence  is  insupportable ;  every  evil  haunts  me. 
It  is  the  last  that  must  take  place  till  term ;  that  I  must  sub 
mit  to.  I  am  pleased  with  your  account  of  your  health  and 
spirits ;  they  are  both  as  I  wish. 

When  you  write  again,  speak  of  your  return.  The  uncer 
tainty  makes  it  more  irksome.  The  company  you  speak  of 
will  be  as  welcome  as  any  at  this  juncture ;  but  my  health 
and  mind  seem  to  require  the  calm  recreation  of  friendly  sym 
pathy  ;  the  heart  that  has  long  been  united  to  mine  by  the 
tenderest  esteem  and  confidence,  who  has  made  every  little 
anxiety  its  own,  to  whom  I  can  speak  without  reserve  every 
imaginary  wo,  and  whose  kind  consolation  shall  appease  those 
miseries  nature  has  imposed." 

MRS.   BURR    TO  AARON  BURR. — New    York,  May,   1785 
uMr.  Marvin  calls  for  my  letter  this  morning,  which  will  be 


CORRESPONDENCE      WITH     HIS     WIFE.         397 

delivered  with  a  pound  of  green  tea  I  have  purchased  for  your 
landlady  at  two  dollars.  He  has  called.  I  am  hurried.  Ten 
thousand  loves.  Tbttjours  la  votre  THEODOSIA." 

AARO:N  BURR  to  MRS.  BURR. — Janes,  in  the  Mountains,  May, 
1785.  "  The  girls  must  give  me  a  history  of  their  time,  from 
rising  to  night.  The  boys,  any  thing  which  interests  them,  and 
which,  of  course,  will  interest  me.  Are  there  any,  or  very 
pressing  calls  at  the  office  ?  The  word  is  given  to  mount.  I 
shall  have  time  to  seal  this  and  overtake  them.  Kiss  for  me 
those  who  love  me." 

MRS.  BURR  to  AARON  BURR.  —  New-York,  April,  1785. 
"Mrs.  Wickham  just  called  to  tell  me  of  an  opportunity  to 
Chester.  How  joyfully  I  embrace  it.  I  had  a  most  insupport 
able  impatience  to  communicate  to  you  my  gratitude  and 
thanks  for  your  last  visit.  It  was  a  cordial  to  my  health  and 
spirits ;  a  balm  to  my  soul.  My  mind  is  flushed  with  pleasing 
hopes.  Ten  thousand  tender  thoughts  rush  to  my  pen;  but 
the  bearer  may  prove  faithless.  I  will  suppress  them  to  a 
happier  moment,  and  anticipate  the  dear  indulgence. 

"The  family  as  you  left  it.  Thy  Theodosia's  health  and 
spirits  increase  daily.  Bartow's  industry  and  utility  are  strik 
ing  to  the  family  and  strangers.  Johnstone  returned  yester 
day.  Your  letter  was  as  eagerly  read  as  though  I  had  not 
seen  you.  Write  when  you  have  leisure;  if  it  does  not  reach 
me  immediately,  it  will  serve  to  divert  some  tedious  moment 
in  a  future  absence;  even  when  you  are  at  home,  engrossed 
by  business,  I  frequently  find  a  singular  pleasure  in  perusing 
these  testimonies  of  aflection. 

"  I  find  I  am  continually  speaking  of  myself.  I  can  only 
Account  for  it  from  my  Aaron  having  persuaded  me  'tis  his 
tavorite  subject,  and  the  extreme  desire  I  have  to  please  him 
induces  me  to  pursue  it.  I  take  no  walks  but  up  one  stairs 
and  down  the  other.  The  situation  of  my  house  will  not  ad 
mit  of  my  seeing  many  visitors.  I  hope  some  arrangement 
mil  be  accomplished  by  the  next  wtek. 

"  I  have  fixed  the  time  of  seeing  y  ^u     Till  Saturday  I  will 


898  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

hope  the  best.    I  cannot  extend  my  calculations  beyond  it 
four  days  of  your  absence  is  an  age  to  come." 


BURR  to  MRS.  BURR.  —  Chester  ,  May  19,  2,  P.M. 
"We  have  this  day  begun  the  examination  of  witnesses,  which, 
together  with  the  arguments,  will  keep  us  the  greater  part, 
probably  the  whole,  of  next  week.  I  find  myself  gaining 
strength  exceedingly  since  my  return  from  New  York,  though 
perfectly  out  of  humor  with  the  business,  the  distance,  and  the 
delay. 

"  My  trip  to  New  York  has  quite  ruined  me  for  business. 
I  can  not  confine  my  mind  to  it.  I  am  literally  homesick,  and 
think  of  nothing  else.  A  witness,  attending  in  court,  informs 
me  of  his  going  to  New  York  as  soon  as  his  testimony  is 
finished.  I  desert  a  moment  to  tell  you  that  I  am  wholly 
yours. 

6  o'clock,  P.M.  —  "  Since  I  wrote  you  at  two  o'clock  our  court 
is  adjourned  till  nine  to-morrow.  We  go  on  briskly  and  in 
great  good  nature.  If  you  were  half  as  punctual  as  fortunate 
(which  shall  I  call  it?),  I  should  absolutely  fancy  myself  talk 
ing  with  you.  It  would  be  some  indemnification  for  the  dis 
tance  and  vexation.  Make  up  in  thinking  of  me,  and  taking 
care  of  yourself,  what  you  omit  in  writing.  Thine  at  all 
moments. 

9  o'clock  at  night.  —  "A  thousand  thanks  for  your  dear 
affectionate  letter  of  Tuesday  evening.  I  was  just  sitting 
pensively  and  half  complaining  of  your  remissness,  when  your 
letter  is  received  and  dispels  every  gloomy  thought.  I  write 
this  from  the  impulse  of  my  feelings,  and  in  obedience  to  your 
injunctions,  having  no  opportunity  in  view. 

"  The  letters  of  our  dear  children  are  a  feast.  Every  part 
of  them  is  pleasing  and  interesting.  Le  Jeune  is  not  expected 
to  be  in  New-  York  for  some  weeks  at  least.  I  avoid  the  sub 
ject.  I  shudder  at  the  idea  of  suffering  any  thing  to  mar  the 
aappiness  I  promise  myself. 

"  There  is  no  possibility  of  my  return  till  the  middle  of  next 
week.  In  cne  of  my  letters  I  put  it  to  the  last  of  next  week, 
hut  we  have  this  day  made  unexpected  progress.  If  we  are 


CORRESPONDENCE     WITH      HIS     WIFE.        399 

equally  fortunate  and  equally  good-natured,  we  may  finish 
Wednesday  night ;  but  this  is  conjecture,  and  perhaps  my  im 
patience  makes  me  too  sanguine. 

"  I  broke  off  at  the  bottom  of  the  other  page  to  pay  some 
attention  to  those  who  deserve  much  from  me  (our  dear  chil 
dren).  To  hear  that  they  are  employed,  that  no  time  is  ab 
solutely  wasted,  is  the  most  flattering  of  any  thing  that  can  be 
told  me  of  them.  It  ensures  their  affection,  or  is  the  best 
evidence  of  it.  It  ensures,  in  its  consequences,  every  thing  I 
am  ambitious  of  in  them.  Endeavor  to  preserve  regularity 
of  hours;  it  conduces  exceedingly  to  industry." 

MRS.  BURR  TO  AARON  BURR. — New  York,  May  22,  1785. 
<c  Mr.  Brown  very  punctually  and  civilly  came  with  your  wel 
come  packet  of  Thursday,  nine  o'clock.  It  was  just  before 
dinner  ;  the  children  were  dispersed  at  different  employments. 
I  furnished  the  mantelpiece  with  the  contents  of  the  packet. 
When  dinner  was  served  up  they  were  called.  You  know  the 
usual  eagerness  on  this  occasion.  They  were  all  seated  but 
Bartow,  when  he  espied  the  letters ;  the  surprise,  the  joy,  the 
exclamations  exceed  description.  The  greatest  stoic  would 
have  forgot  himself.  A  silent  tear  betrayed  me  no  philosopher. 
A  most  joyous  repast  succeeded.  We  talked  of  our  happiness, 
our  first  of  blessings,  our  best  of  papas.  I  enjoyed,  my  Aaron, 
the  only  happiness  that  could  accrue  from  your  absence.  It 
was  a  momentary  compensation;  the  only  one  I  ever  ex 
perienced. 

"  Your  letters  always  afford  me  a  singular  satisfaction ; — a 
sensation  entirely  my  own ;  this  was  peculiarly  so.  It  wrought 
strangely  on  my  mind  and  spirits.  My  Aaron,  it  was  replete 
with  tenderness !  with  the  most  lively  affection.  I  read  and 
re-read,  till  afraid  I  should  get  it  by  rote,  and  mingling  it  with 
common  ideas,  profane  the  sacred  pledge.  No ;  it  shall  not 
be.  I  will  economize  the  boon.  I  will  limit  the  recreation  to 
those  moments  of  retirement  devoted  to  thee.  Of  a  sudden  I 
found  myself  unusually  fatigued.  I  reflected  on  the  cause,  and 
soon  found  that  I  had  mounted  the  stairs  much  oftener  than  I 
could  possibly  have  done  on  any  other  occasion. 


400  LIFE      OF     AARON     BURR. 

"  I  am  vexed  with  my  last  letter  to  you ;  'tis  impossible  for 
me  to  disguise  a  single  feeling  or  thought  when  I  am  writing 
or  conversing  with  the  friend  of  my  heart.  I  hope  you  have 
attended  only  to  the  last  paragraph,  and  avoid  all  unnecessary 
Anxiety  for  her  who  wishes  to  be  a  constant  source  of  pleasure 
to  thee.  I  have  been  in  good  health  since  Saturday  morning. 
Since  yesterday,  unusually  gay  and  happy;  anticipating  a 
thousand  pleasures,  studying  every  little  arrangement  that  can 
contribute  to  thy  comfort.  This  wet  weather  is  a  bar  to  any 
essential  progress.  The  walls  are  still  too  damp  to  admit  of 
paint  or  paper.  I  have  a  bed  ready  for  the  judge ;  ne  vous 
genez  pas  la-desms.  I  am  afraid  some  foolish  reflection  in 
my  last  will  embarrass  you.  Your  affection  and  tenderness 
has  put  them  to  flight.  "  Let  nothing  mar  the  promised  bliss." 
Thy  Theo.  waits  with  inexpressible  impatience  to  welcome  the 
return  of  her  truly  beloved.  Every  domestic  joy  shall  decor 
ate  his  mansion.  When  Aaron  smiles,  shall  Theo.  frown  ? 
Forbid  it  every  guardian  power. 

"  Le  Jeune  perplexes  me  no  longer.  I  am  provoked  with 
myself  for  having  repeated  it  to  you.  Your  dear  little  Theo. 
grows  the  most  engaging  child  you  ever  saw.  She  frequently 
talks  of,  and  calls  on,  her  dear  papa.  It  is  impossible  to  see 
her  with  indifference.  All  moves  as  you  wish  it.  All  count 
the  passing  hours  till  thy  return.  Remember,  I  am  in  good 
health  and  spirits ;  that  I  expect  the  same  account  of  yours. 
To  think  of  me  affectionately  is  my  first  command ;  to  write 
me  so,  the  second.  Hasten  to  share  the  happiness  of  thy 
much  loved  and  much  loving  THEODOSIA." 

MRS.  BURR  TO  AARON  BURR. — New  York,  August  28, 1785. 

"  Young and  his  companions  have  left  us ;  at  tasting  your 

Madeira  he  pronounced  you  a  d — d  clever  fellow.  Your  merit 
increased  with  the  number  of  glasses ;  they  went  away  in 
good  humor  with  themselves  and  the  hostess.  O !  my  love, 
how  earnestly  I  pray  that  our  children  may  never  be  driven 
from  your  paternal  direction.  Had  you  been  at  home  to-day, 
you  would  have  felt  as  fervent  in  this  prayer  as  your  Theo 


CORRESPONDENCE     WITH     HIS    WIPE.  401 

Dur  children  were  impressed  with  utter  contempt  for  their 
guest.  This  gave  me  real  satisfaction. 

"  I  really  believe,  my  dear,  few  parents  can  boast  of  chil 
dren  whose  minds  are  so  prone  to  virtue.  I  see  the  reward 
of  our  assiduity  with  inexpressible  delight,  with  a  gratitude 
few  experience.  My  Aaron,  they  have  grateful  hearts  ;  some 
circumstances  prove  it,  which  I  shall  relate  to  you  with  sin 
gular  pleasure  at  you  return.  I  pity  A.  C.  from  my  heart. 
She  will  feel  the  folly  of  an  over  zeal  to  accumulate.  Bartow's 
assiduity  and  faithfulness  is  beyond  description.  My  health 
is  not  worse.  I  have  been  disappointed  in  a  horse ;  shall  have 
Pharaoh  to-morrow.  Frederick  is  particularly  attentive  to 
my  health :  indeed,  none  of  them  are  deficient  in  tenderness. 
All  truly  anxious  for  papa's  return ;  we  fix  Tuesday,  beyond 
a  doubt,  but  hope  impossibilities. 

"  I  had  a  thousand  things  to  write,  but  the  idea  of  seeing 
you  banishes  every  other  thought.  I  fear  much  the  violent 
exertions  you  are  obliged  to  make  will  injure  your  health. 
Remember  how  dear,  how  important  it  is  to  the  repose,  to  the 
life  of  THEODOSIA." 

MRS.  BURR  TO  AARON  BTTRR. — New  York,  August  29, 1785. 
"  Our  little  daughter's  health  has  improved  beyond  my  expec 
tations.  Your  dear  Theodosia  cannot  hear  you  spoken  of 
without  an  apparent  melancholy ;  insomuch  that  her  nurse  is 
obliged  to  exert  her  invention  to  divert  her,  and  myself  avoid 
to  mention  you  in  her  presence.  She  was  one  whole  day  in 
different  to  everything  but  your  name.  Her  attachment  is  not 
of  a  common  nature ;  though  this  was  my  opinion,  I  avoided 
the  remark,  when  Mr.  Grant  observed  it  to  me  as  a  singular 
instance. 

"You  see  I  have  followed  your  example  in  speaking  first  of 
myself.  I  esteemed  it  a  real  trait  of  your  affection,  a  sym 
pathy  in  the  feelings,  the  anxiety  of  your  Theo.,  who  had 
every  fear  for  your  health ;  more  than  you  would  allow  her  to 
express." 

MRS.  BURR  TO  AARON  BURR. — New  York,  Sept'r  25, 1785. 
M  Your  dear  letter  of  Saturday  morning  has  just  reached  me. 


402  LIFE     OF    AAEON    BURR. 

I  was  relieved,  delighted,  till  the  recollection  of  the  storm  you 
havo  since  weathered  took  place.  How  have  you  borne  it  ?  Ten 
thousand  fears  alarm  me.  I  pursued  thee  yesterday,  thiough 
\v  hid  and  rain,  till  eve,  when,  fatigued,  exhausted,  shivering, 
thou  didst  reach  thy  haven,  surrounded  with  inattention,  thy 
Theo.  from  thee.  Thus  agitated,  I  laid  my  head  upon  a  rest 
less  pillow,  turning  from  side  to  side,  when  thy  kindred  spirit 
found  its  mate.  I  beheld  my  much-loved  Aaron,  his  tender 
eyes  fixed  kindly  on  me ;  they  spake  a  body  wearied,  wishing 
repose,  but  not  sick.  This  soothed  my  troubled  spirit :  I  slept 
tolerably,  but  dare  not  trust  too  confidently.  I  hasten  to  my 
friend  to  realize  the  delightful  vision ;  naught  but  thy  voice 
can  tranquilize  my  mind.  Thou  art  the  constant  subject  of 
love,  hope,  and  fear.  The  girls  bewail  the  sufferings  of  their 
dear  papa ;  the  boys  wish  themselves  in  his  place ;  Frederick 
frets  at  the  badness  of  the  horse ;  wishes  money  could  put  him 
in  thy  stead.  The  unaffected  warmth  of  his  heart  delights 
me.  If  aught  can  alleviate  thy  absence,  'tis  these  testimonies 
of  gratitude  and  affection  from  the  young  and  guileless  to  the 
best  of  parents.  They  feel  the  hand  that  blesses  them,  and 
love  because  they  are  blessed." 

AAEON  BURR  TO  MES.  BUEE. — Albany,  November  2,  1785. 
M I  have  lived  these  three  days  upon  the  letters  I  expected  this 
evening,  and  behold  the  stage  without  a  line !  I  have  been 
through  the  rain,  and  dark,  and  mud,  hunting  up  every  pas- 
•-enger  to  catechise  them  for  letters,  and  can  scarce  yet  believe 
that  I  am  so  totally  forgotten. 

"  Our  trial,  of  which  I  wrote  you  on  Sunday,  goes  on  mod 
erately.  It  will  certainly  last  till  twelve  o'clock  on  Saturday 
night ;  longer  it  cannot,  that  being  the  last  hour  of  court.  Of 
course,  I  leave  this  on  Sunday ;  shall  be  detained  at  West- 
chester  till  about  Thursday  noon,  and  be  home  on  Friday. 
This  is  my  present  prospect ;  a  gloomy  one,  I  confess ;  ren 
dered  more  so  by  your  unpardonable  silence.  I  have  a  thou 
sand  questions  to  ask,  but  why  ask  of  the  dumb  ? 

"  I  am  quite  recovered.  The  trial  in  which  I  am  engaged 
\s  a  fatiguing  one,  and  in  some  respects  vexatious.  But  it 


CORRESPONDENCE    WITH    HIS    TVIFE.  403 

puts  me  in  better  humor  to  reflect  that  you  have  just  received 
my  letter  of  Sunday,  and  are  saying  or  thinking  some  good- 
nitured  things  of  me,  determining  to  write  anything  that 
can  amuse  and  interest  me ;  everything  that  can  atone  for  the 
late  silence,  or  compensate  for  the  hard  fate  that  divides  us. 

"  Since  being  here  I  have  resolved  that  you  in  future  accom 
pany  me  on  such  excursions,  and  I  am  provoked  to  have 
yielded  to  your  idle  fears  on  this  occasion.  I  have  told  here 
frequently,  within  a  day  or  two,  that  I  was  never  so  long 
from  home  before,  till,  upon  counting  days,  I  find  I  have  been 
frequently  longer.  I  am  so  constantly  anticipating  the  chira- 
tion  of  this  absence,  that  when  I  speak  of  it  I  realize  the  whole 
of  it. 

"  Let  me  find  that  you  have  done  justice  to  yourself  and 
me.  I  shall  forgivo  none  the  smallest  omission  on  this 
head." 

AAKON  BUKR  TO  MES.  BURR. — Philadelphia,  December  4, 
1791.  "I  fear  I  have  for  the  present  deprived  you  of  the 
pleasure  of  reading  Gibbon.  If  you  cannot  procure  the  loan 
of  a  London  edition,  I  will  send  you  that  which  I  have  here. 
In  truth,  I  bought  it  for  you,  which  is  almost  confessing  a 
robbery.  Edward  Livingston  and  Richard  Harrison  have 
each  a  good  set,  and  either  would  cheerfully  oblige  you. 

"  To  render  any  reading  really  amusing  or  in  any  degree 
instructive,  you  should  never  pass  a  word  you  do  not  under 
stand,  or  the  name  of  a  person  or  place  of  which  you  have  not 
some  knowledge.  You  will  say  that  attention  to  such  matters 
is  too  great  an  interruption.  If  so,  do  but  note  them  down  on 
paper,  and  devote  an  hour  particularly  to  them  when  you 
have  finished  a  chapter  or  come  to  a  proper  pause.  After  an 
experiment  of  this  mode,  you  will  never  abandon  it.  Lem- 
priere's  Dictionary  is  that  of  which  I  spoke  to  you.  Purchase 
also  Macbeau's ;  this  last  is  appropriated  to  ancient  theocracy, 
fiction,  and  geography ;  both  of  them  will  be  useful  in  reading 
Gibbon,  and  still  more  so  in  reading  ancient  authors,  or  of 
any  period  of  ancient  history. 

"If  you  have  never  read  Plutarch's  Livoa  (or  even  if  yon 


404  LIFE    OP    AARON    BUEE. 

have),  you  will  read  them  with  much  pleasure.  They  are  in 
the  City  Library,  and  probably  in  many  private  ones.  Beleo's 
Herodotus  will  amuse  you.  Bartow  has  it.  You  had  better 
read  the  text  without  the  notes ;  they  are  diffuse,  and  tend  to 
distract  the  attention.  Now  and  then  they  contain  some  use 
ful  explanation.  After  you  have  read  the  author,  you  will,  I 
think,  with  more  pleasure  read  the  notes  and  remarks  in  course 
by  themselves. 

"  You  expressed  a  curiosity  to  peruse  Paley's  Philosophy  of 
Natural  History.  Judge  Hobart  has  it.  If  you  read  it,  be 
sure  to  make  yourself  mistress  of  all  the  terms.  But,  if  you 
continue  your  Gibbon,  it  will  find  you  in  employment  for  some 
days.  When  you  are  weary  of  soaring  with  him,  and  wish  to 
descend  into  common  life,  read  the  Comedies  of  Plautus. 
There  is  a  tolerable  translation  in  the  City  Library.  Such 
books  give  the  most  lively  and  amusing,  perhaps  much  the 
most  just  picture,  of  the  manners  and  degree  of  refinement  of 
the  age  in  which  they  were  written.  I  have  agreed  with  Pop- 
ham  for  his  share  in  the  City  Library. 

"  The  reading  of  one  book  will  invite  you  to  another.  I 
cannot,  I  fear,  at  this  distance,  advise  you  successfully ;  much 
less  can  I  hope  to  assist  you  in  your  reading.  You  bid  me  be 
silent  as  to  my  expectations ;  for  the  present  I  obey.  Your 
complaint  of  your  memory,  even  if  founded  hi  fact,  contains 
nothing  discouraging  or  alarming.  I  would  not  wish  you  to 
possess  that  kind  of  memory  which  retains  with  accuracy  and 
certainty  all  names  and  dates.  I  never  knew  it  to  accompany 
much  invention  or  fancy.  It  is  almost  the  exclusive  blessing 
of  dullness.  The  mind  which  perceives  clearly  adopts  and  ap 
propriates  an  idea,  and  is  thus  enlarged  and  invigorated.  It 
is  of  little  moment  whether  the  book,  the  time,  or  the  occasion 
be  recollected. 

"  I  am  inclined  to  dilate  on  these  topics,  and  upon  the  effects 
cf  reading  and  study  on  the  mind ;  but  this  would  require  an 
essay,  and  I  have  not  time  to  write  a  letter.  I  am  also  much 
prompted  to  convince  you,  by  undeniable  proof,  that  the 
ground  of  your  complaint  does  not  exist  except  in  your  owu 
apprehensions,  but  this  I  reserve  for  an  interview.  When  I 


CORRESPONDENCE     WITH     HIS     WIFE.         405 

am  informed  of  your  progress,  and  of  the  direction  of  you* 
taste,  I  may  have  something  further  to  recommend. 

"  There  is  no  probability  of  an  adjournment  of  Congress 
during  the  holy  days,  or  for  any  longer  time  than  one  day, 
The  possibility  of  my  being  able  to  leave  the  business  of  Con 
gress,  and  make  a  visit  to  New  York,  diminishes  daily.  I 
wish  much  to  see  you,  and,  if  you  are  equally  sincere,  we  can 
accomplish  it  by  meeting  at  Trenton." 

AARON  BURR  TO  MRS.  BURR. — Philadelphia,  December  18, 
1791.  "  You  have  indeed,  in  your  last  letter,  placed  yourself 
before  me  in  the  most  amiable  light ;  and,  without  soliciting, 
have  much  more  strongly  enticed  me  to  a  visit.  But  for  the 
present  I  must  resist.  Will  it  not  be  possible  for  you  to  meet 
me  at  Trenton,  that  we  may  travel  together  to  New  York  ? 
If  you  assent  to  this,  I  will  name  a  day.  Yet  do  not  expose 
your  health.  On  this  subject  you  leave  me  still  to  apprehen 
sion  and  conjecture. 

"  Your  account  of  Madame  Genlis  surprises  me,  and  is  a 
new  evidence  of  the  necessity  of  reading  books  before  wo  put 
them  into  the  hands  of  children.  Reputation  is  indeed  a  pre 
carious  test.  I  can  think  at  present  of  nothing  better  than 
what  you  have  chosen." 


406  LIVE     OP     AAEON     BUSH. 


vn. 


PROM  THE  CORRESPONDENCE  BETWEEN  AARON  BURR  AHD 
HIS  DAUGHTER,  THEODOSIA. 

AAKON  BURR  TO  THEODOSIA. — Westchester,  October  8, 1792. 
"  I  rose  up  suddenly  from  the  sofa,  and  rubbing  my  head — 
'What  book  shall  I  buy  for  her?'  said  I  to  myself.  'She 
reads  so  much  and  so  rapidly  that  it  is  not  easy  to  find  proper 
and  amusing  French  books  for  her ;  and  yet  I  am  so  flattered 
with  her  progress  in  that  language,  that  I  am  resolved  that 
she  shall,  at  all  events,  be  gratified.  Indeed,  I  owe  it  to  her.' 
So,  after  walking  once  or  twice  briskly  across  the  floor,  I  took 
my  hat,  and  sallied  out,  determined  not  to  return  till  I  had 
purchased  something.  It  was  not  my  first  attempt.  I  went 
into  one  bookseller's  shop  after  another.  I  found  plenty  of 
fairy  tales  and  such  nonsense,  fit  for  the  generality  of  children 
of  nine  or  ten  years  old.  c  These,'  said  I, '  will  never  do.  Her 
understanding  begins  to  be  above  such  things ;'  but  I  could 
see  nothing  that  I  would  offer  with  pleasure  to  an  intelligent, 
well-informed  girl  of  nine  years  old.  I  began  to  be  discour 
aged.  The  hour  of  dining  was  come.  '  But  I  will  search  a 
little  longer.'  I  persevered.  At  last  I  found  it.  I  found  the 
very  thing  I  sought.  It  is  contained  in  two  volumes  octavo, 
handsomely  bound,  and  with  prints  and  registers.  It  is  a 
work  of  fancy,  but  replete  with  instruction  and  amusement. 
I  must  present  it  with  my  own  hand." 

AARON  BURR  TO  THEODOSIA. — Philadelphia,  December  16, 
I1/ 33.  "I  have  a  thousand  questions  to  ask,  my  dear  Theo., 
but  nothing  to  communicate ;  and  thus  I  fear  it  will  be  through 
out  the  winter,  for  my  time  is  consumed  in  the  dull  uniformity 
of  study  and  attendance  in  Senate ;  but  every  hour  of  your  day 
is  interesting  to  me.  I  would  give,  what  would  I  not  give,  to 


COBBESPONDENCE   WITH   HIS   DATJGHTEB.      407 

see  or  know  even  your  most  trifling  actions  and  amusements? 
This,  however,  is  more  than  I  can  ask  or  expect.  But  I  do 
expect  with  impatience  your  journal.  Ten  minutes  every 
evening  I  demand ;  if  you  should  choose  to  make  it  twenty,  I 
shall  be  the  better  pleased.  You  are  to  note  the  occurrences 
of  the  day  as  concisely  as  you  can ;  and,  at  your  pleasure,  to 
add  any  short  reflections  or  remarks  that  may  arise.  On  the 
other  leaf  I  give  you  a  sample  of  the  manner  of  your  journal 
for  one  day. 

"Plan  of  a  Journal. 

"  16th  December,  1793. 

"  Learned  230  lines,  which  finished  Horace.  Heigh-ho  for 
Terence  and  the  Greek  grammar  to-morrow. 

"  Practised  two  hours  less  thirty-five  minutes,  which  I 
begged  off. 

"  Hewlett  (dancing-master)  did  not  come. 

"  Began  Gibbon  last  evening.  I  find  he  requires  as  much 
study  and  attention  as  Horace  ;  so  I  shall  not  rank  the  reading 
of  him  among  amusements. 

"  Skated  an  hour ;  fell  twenty  times,  and  find  the  advantage 
of  a  hard  head,  and 

"  Ma  better — dined  with  us  at  table,  and  is  still  sitting  up, 
and  free  from  pain." 

AAEON  BUEE  TO  THEODOSIA. — Philadelphia,  December  25, 
1793.  "  The  letter,  my  dear  Theo.,  which  (I  have  no  doubt) 
you  wrote  me  last  Sunday,  has  not  yet  come  to  hand.  Am  I 
to  blame  Strong  ?  or  the  postmaster  ?  or  whom  ? 

"  When  you  have  finished  a  letter,  read  it  carefully  over, 
%nd  correct  all  the  errors  you  can  discover.  Iu  your  last 
there  were  some  whicn  could  not,  upon  ac  attentive  perusal, 
have  escaped  your  notice,  as  you  shall  see  when  we  meet. 

"  I  have  asked  yon.  a  great  many  questions,  to  which  I  have 
is  yet  no  answers.  When  you  sit  down  to  write  to  me,  or 


408  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

when  you  set  about  it,  be  it  sitting  or  standing,  peruse  all  my 
letters,  and  leave  nothing  unanswered.    Adieu." 

AARON  BURR  TO  THEODOSIA. — Philadelphia,  December  31, 
1793.  "I  received  your  letter  and  journal  yesterday  in  the 
Senate  Chamber,  just  before  the  closing  of  the  mail,  so  that  I 
had  only  time  to  acknowledge  it  by  a  hasty  line.  You  see  I 
never  let  your  letters  remain  a  day  unanswered,  in  which  I 
wish  you  would  imitate  me.  Your  last  had  no  date ;  from 
the  last  date  in  the  journal,  and  your  writing  about  Christmas 
holidays  as  yet  at  some  distance,  I  suppose  you  wrote  about 
Sunday  the  22d.  Nine  days  ago !  I  beg  you  again  to  read 
over  all  my  letters,  and  to  let  me  see  by  your  answers  that 
you  attend  to  them.  I  suspect  your  last  journal  was  not  writ 
ten  from  day  to  day ;  but  all  on  one,  or  at  most  two  days,  from 
memory.  How  is  this  ?  Ten  or  fifteen  minutes  every  evening 
would  not  be  an  unreasonable  sacrifice  from  you  to  me.  If 
you  took  the  Christmas  holidays,  I  assent ;  if  you  did  not,  we 
cannot  recall  the  time.  This  is  all  the  answer  which  that  part 
of  your  letter  now  admits  of. 

"  It  is  said  that  some  few  yet  die  of  the  yellow  fever,  which 
lately  raged  here ;  but  the  disorder  does  not  appear  to  be,  at 
present,  in  any  degree  contageous ;  what  may  be  the  case  upon 
the  return  of  warm  weather,  is  a  subject  of  anxious  conjecture 
and  apprehension.  It  is  probable  that  the  session  of  Congress 
will  continue  into  the  summer. 

"  Give  a  place  to  your  mamma's  health  in  your  journal. 
Omit  the  formal  conclusion  of  your  letters,  and  write  your 
name  in  a  larger  hand.  I  am  just  going  to  Senate,  where  I 
hope  to  meet  a  letter  from  you,  with  a  continuation  of  your 
journal  down  to  the  29th  inclusive,  which,  if  it  gives  a  good 
account  of  you  and  mamma,  will  gladden  the  heart  of  A. 
BURR." 

AARON  BURR  TO  THEODOSIA. — Philadelphia,  December  31, 
1793.  "This  day's  mail  has  brought  me  nothing  from  you. 
I  have  but  two  letters  in  three,  almost  four  weeks,  and  the 
journal  is  ten  days  in  arrear.  What !  can  neither  affection 


CORRESPONDENCE     WITH     HIS     DAUGHTER.      409 

nor  civility  induce  you  to  devote  to  me  the  small  portion  of 
time  which  I  have  required  ?  Are  authority  and  compulsion 
then  the  only  engines  by  which  you  can  be  moved?  For 
shame,  Theo. !  Do  not  give  me  reason  to  think  so  ill  of  you  " 


AARON  BURR  TO  THEODOSIA. — Philadelphia,  January  4, 
1794.  "At  the  moment  of  closing  the  mail  yesterday,  I  re 
ceived  your  letter  enclosing  the  pills.  I  cannot  refer  to  it  by 
date,  as  it  has  none.  Tell  me  truly,  did  you  write  it  without 
assistance  ?  Is  the  language  and  spelling  your  own  ?  If  so, 
it  does  you  much  honor.  The  subject  of  it  obliged  me  to 
show  it  to  Dr.  Rush,  which  I  did  with  great  pride.  He  in 
quired  your  age  half  a  dozen  times,  and  paid  some  handsome 
compliments  to  the  handwriting,  the  style,  and  the  correctness 
of  your  letter. 

"  The  account  of  your  mamma's  health  distresses  me  ex 
tremely.  If  she  does  not  get  better  soon,  I  will  quit  Congress 
altogether,  and  go  home. 

"  My  last  letter  to  you  was  almost  an  angry  one,  at  which 
you  cannot  be  much  surprised  when  you  recollect  the  length 
of  time  of  your  silence,  and  that  you  are  my  only  correspon 
dent  respecting  the  concerns  of  the  family.  I  expect,  on 
Monday  or  Tuesday  next,  to  receive  the  continuation  of  your 
journal  for  the  fortnight  past. 

u  Mr.  Leshlie  will  tell  you  that  I  have  given  directions  for 
your  commencing  Greek.  One  half  hour  faithfully  applied 
by  yourself  at  study,  and  another  at  recitation  with  Mr. 
Leshlie,  will  suffice  to  advance  you  rapidly." 

AARON  BURR  TO  THEODOSIA. — Philadelphia,  January  7, 
1794.  "When  your  letters  are  written  with  tolerable  spirit 
and  correctness,  I  read  them  two  or  three  times  before  I  per 
ceive  any  fault  in  them,  being  wholly  engaged  with  the  plea 
sure  they  afford  me ;  but,  for  your  sake,  it  is  necessary  that  I 
should  also  peruse  them  with  an  eye  of  criticism.  The  follow 
ing  are  the  only  mispelled  words.  You  write  acurate  for  a& 
curate  ;  laudnam  for  laudanum ;  intirely  for  entirely  ;  this  last 


410  LIFE     OP     AARON     BURR. 

word,  indeed,  is  spelled  both  ways,  but  entirely  is  the  most 
usual  and  the  most  proper. 

"  Continue  to  use  all  these  words  in  your  next  letter,  that  1 
may  see  that  you  know  the  true  spelling.  And  tell  me  what 
is  laudanum?  "Where  and  how  made?  And  what  are  its 
effects  ? 

" c  It  was  what  she  had  long  wished  for,  and  was  at  a 

loss  how  to  procure  £.' 

"  Don't  you  see  that  this  sentence  would  have  been  perfect 
and  much  more  elegant  without  the  last  it  f  Mr.  Leshlie  will 
explain  to  you  why.  By-the-b}.  I  took  the  liberty  to  erase 
the  redundant  it  before  I  showed  the  letter. 

"I  am  extremely  impatient  for  your  farther  account  oi 
mamma's  health.  The  necessity  of  laudanum  twice  a  day  is 
a  very  disagreeable  and  alarming  circumstance.  Your  letter 
was  written  a  week  ago,  since  which  I  have  no  account.  I 
am  just  going  to  the  Senate  Chamber,  where  I  hope  to  meet  a 
journal  and  letter." 

AAEON  BURR  TO  THEODOSIA. — Philadelphia,  January  b, 
1 794.  "  Your  two  letters  of  Friday  and  Saturday  came  to 
gether  by  yesterday's  mail,  which  did  not  arrive  till  near  sun 
set.  Your  letter  of  Friday  was  not  put  into  the  post-office 
until  Saturday  afternoon.  You  might  as  well  have  kept 
.t  in  your  own  hands  till  Monday  eleven  o'clock.  Since 
the  receipt  of  these  letters  I  have  been  three  times  to  Dr. 
Rush  to  consult  him  about  a  drink  for  your  mamma ;  but  not 
having  had  the  good  fortune  to  find  him,  have  written  to  him 
on  the  subject.  I  shall  undoubtedly  procure  an  answer  in 
the  course  of  this  day,  and  will  forward  it  by  to-morrow's 
post. 

"  I  beg,  Miss  Prissy,  that  you  will  be  pleased  to  name  a 
single  *  unsuccessful  effort '  which  you  have  made  to  please 
me.  As  to  the  letters  and  journals  which  you  did  write,  surely 
you  nave  reason  abundant  to  believe  that  they  gave  me  pleas 
ure  ;  and  how  the  deuce  I  am  to  be  pleased  with  those  you 
did  not  write,  and  how  an  omission  to  write  can  be  called  an 
'  effort  J  remains  for  your  ingenuity  to  disclose. 


CORRESPONDENCE    WITH     HIS     DAUGHTER.      411 

"  You  improve  much  in  journalizing.  Your  last  is  far  more 
sprightly  than  any  of  the  preceding.  Fifty-six  lines  sola  was, 
I  admit,  an  effort  worthy  of  yourself,  and  which  I  hope  will 
be  often  repeated.  But  pray,  when  you  have  got  up  to  two 
hundred  lines  a  lesson,  why  do  you  go  back  again  to  one  hun 
dred  and  twenty,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  ?  You 
should  strive  never  to  diminish ;  but  I  suppose  that  vis  inertice, 
which  is  often  so  troublesome  to  you,  does  sometimes  prepon 
derate.  So  it  is,  now  and  then,  even  with  your  A.  BURR. 

"  Learn  the  difference  between  then  and  than.  You  will 
soonest  perceive  it  by  translating  them  into  Latin. 

"  Let  me  see  how  handsomely  you  can  subscribe  your  name 
to  your  next  letter,  about  this  size,  A.  BURR. 

AARON  BURR  TO  THEODOSIA. — Philadelphia,  January  13, 
1794.  "Your  letter  of  the  9th,  my  dear  Theo.,  was  a  most 
agreeable  surprise  to  me.  I  had  not  dared  even  to  hope  for 
one  until  to-morrow.  In  one  instance,  at  least,  an  attempt  to 
please  me  has  not  been  '  unsuccessful.'  You  see  I  do  not  for 
get  that  piece  of  impudence. 

"  I  was  yesterday  thronged  with  company  from  eight  in  the 
morning  till  eleven  at  night.  The  Greek  signature,  though  a 
little  mistaken,  was  not  lost  upon  me.  I  have  a  letter  from 
Mr.  Leshlie,  which  pays  you  many  compliments.  He  has  also 
ventured  to  promise  that  you  will  every  day  get  a  lesson  in 
Terence  by  yourself.  You  know  how  grateful  this  will  be  to 
A.  BURR." 

AARON  BURR  TO  THEODOSIA. — Philadelphia,  January  14, 
1794.  "I  really  think,  my  dear  Theo.,  that  you  will  be  very- 
soon  beyond  all  verbal  criticism,  and  that  my  whole  attention 
will  be  presently  directed  to  the  improvement  of  your  style. 
Your  letter  of  the  9th  is  remarkably  correct  in  point  of  spell 
ing.  That  word  recieved  still  escapes  your  attention.  Try 
again.  The  words  wold  and  shold  are  mere  carelessness; 
necessery  instead  of  necessary,  belongs,  I  suppose,  to  the  same 
class. 

"  *  Dr.  B.  called  here,  but  did  not  speak  of  his  having  re 
a  letter  from  you,  but  desired,'  &c. 


412  LIFE    OF    AAEON    BURR. 

"  When  I  copied  the  foregoing,  I  intended  to  have 
you  how  to  improve  it ;  but,  upon  second  thought,  determine 
to  leave  it  to  yourself.  Do  me  the  favor  to  endorse  it  on,  or 
subjoin  it  to,  your  next  letter,  corrected  and  varied  according 
to  the  best  of  your  skill. 

" '  Ma  begs  you  will  omit  the  thoughts  of  leaving  Congress,' 
&c.;  '  omit '  is  improperly  used  here.  You  mean  '  abandon, 
relinquish,  renounce,  or  abjure  the  thoughts,'  &c.  Your  mamma, 
Mr.  Leshlie,  or  your  dictionary  (Johnson's  folio),  will  teach 
you  the  force  of  this  observation.  The  last  of  these  words 
would  have  been  too  strong  for  the  occasion. 

"  You  have  used  with  propriety  the  words  c  encomium '  and 
'  adopted.'  I  hope  you  may  have  frequent  occasions  for  the 
former,  with  the  like  application. 

" '  Cannot  be  committed  to  paper,'  is  well  expressed." 

AARON  BURR  TO  THEODOSIA. — Philadelphia,  January  16, 
1794.  "I  hope  the  mercury,  if  tried,  will  be  used  with  the 
most  vigilant  caution  and  the  most  attentive  observation  of  its 
first  effects.  I  am  extremely  anxious  and  apprehensive  about 
the  event  of  such  an  experiment. 

"I  fear,  my  dear  little  girl,  that  my  letter  of  the  13th  im 
posed  too  much  upon  you ;  if  so,  dispense  with  what  you  may 
find  too  troublesome.  You  perceive  by  this  license  the  entire 
confidence  which  I  place  hi  your  discretion. 

"Your  journal  still  advances  towards  perfection.  But  the 
letter  which  accompanied  it  is,  I  remark  with  regret,  rather  a 
falling  off.  I  have  received  none  more  carelessly  written,  or 
with  more  numerous  omissions  of  words.  I  am  sensible  that 
many  apologies  are  at  hand ;  but  you,  perhaps,  would  not  be 
sensible  that  any  were  necessary,  if  I  should  omit  to  remind 
you. 

"  I  continue  the  practice  of  scoring  words  for  our  mutual 
improvement.  The  use,  as  applicable  to  you,  was  indicated 
in  a  former  letter. 

"  I  am  sure  you  will  be  charmed  with  the  Greek  language 
tbove  all  others.  Adieu." 


CORRESPONDENCE    WITH    HIS    DAUGHTER       413 

AAEON  BURR  TO  THEODOSIA. — Philadelphia,  January  23, 
1 794.  "  lo,  triumphe !  There  is  not  a  word  mispelled  either 
in  your  journal  or  letter,  which  cannot  be  said  of  a  single  page 
you  ever  before  wrote.  The  fable  is  quite  classical,  and,  if 
not  very  much  corrected  by  Mr.  Leshlie,  is  truly  a  surprising 
performance,  and  written  most  beautifully.  But  what  has  be 
come  of  poor  Alpha  Beta  ?  Discouraged  ?  That  is  impos 
sible.  Laid  aside  for  the  present  ?  That,  indeed,  is  possible, 
but  by  no  means  probable.  Shall  I  guess  again  ?  Yes ;  you 
mean  to  surprise  me  with  some  astonishing  progress.  And 
yet,  to  confess  the  truth,  your  lessons  in  Terence,  Exercises, 
and  '  music '  (without  a  &,  observe)  seem  to  leave  little  time 
for  any  other  study.  I  must  remain  in  suspense  for  four  days 
longer. 

"  Doctor  Rush  thinks  that  bark  would  not  be  amiss,  but  may 
be  beneficial  if  the  stomach  does  not  rebuke  it,  which  must 
be  constantly  the  first  object  of  attention.  He  recommends 
either  the  cold  infusion  or  substance  as  least  likely  to  offend 
the  stomach. 

"  Be  able,  upon  my  arrival,  to  tell  me  the  difference  between 
an  infusion  and  decoction  ;  and  the  history,  the  virtues,  and 
the  botanical  or  medical  name  of  the  bark.  Chambers  wil\ 
tell  you  more  perhaps  than  you  will  wish  to  read  of  it.  Your 
little  mercurial  disquisition  is  ingenious  and  prettily  told." 

AARON  BURR  TO  THEODOSIA. — Philadelphia,  February  13, 
1794.  "I  received  your  letter  and  enclosures  yesterday  in 
Senate.  I  stopped  reading  the  letter,  and  took  up  the  story 
in  the  place  you  directed ;  was  really  affected  by  the  interest 
ing  little  tale,  faithfully  believing  it  had  been  taken  from 
the  Mag.  D'Enf.,  and  was  astonished  and  delighted  when  I 
recurred  to  the  letter  and  found  the  little  deception  you  had 
Clayed  upon  me.  It  is  concisely  and  handsomely  told,  and  is 
indeed  a  performance  above  your  years. 

"  Mr.  Leshlie  is  not,  I  am  afraid,  a  competent  judge  of 
ttrhat  you  are  capable  of  learning :  you  must  convince  him 
that  you  can,  when  you  set  in  earnest  about  it,  accomplish 
wonders. 


414  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BUER. 

"  Do  you  mean  that  the  forty  lines  which  you  construed  in 
Virgil  were  in  a  part  you  had  not  before  learned  ?" 

AARON  BURR  TO  THEODOSIA. — Philadelphia,  March  7, 1794 
"  Your  letter  of  the  4th  was  three  days  on  the  road.  I  am 
certain  that  I  have  answered  punctually  all  which  have  come 
to  hand.  True,  I  have  not  written  to  you  as  during  the  first 
few  weeks  of  my  residence  here.  For  the  last  month  I  have 
been  very  much  occupied  by  public  business.  You  will  need 
no  other  proof  of  it  when  I  tell  you  that  near  twenty  unan 
swered  letters  are  now  on  my  desk,  not  one  of  yours  among 
them,  however,  except  that  received  last  evening.  I  have  not 
even  been  to  the  theatre  except  about  an  hour,  and  then  it 
was  more  an  errand  of  business  than  amusement." 

AAEON  BURR  TO  THEODOSIA. — Philadelphia,  March  31 
1794.  "  I  am  distressed  at  your  loss  of  time.  I  do  not,  indeed, 
wholly  blame  you  for  it,  but  this  does  not  diminish  my  regret. 
When  you  want  punctuality  in  your  letters,  I  am  sure  you 
want  it  in  every  thing ;  for  you  will  constantly  observe  that 
you  have  the  most  leisure  when  you  do  the  most  business. 
Negligence  of  one's  duty  produces  a  self-dissatisfaction  which 
unfits  the  mind  for  everything,  and  ennui  and  peevishness  are 
the  never  failing  consequences.  You  will  readily  discover  the 
truth  of  these  remarks  by  reflecting  on  your  own  conduct,  and 
the  different  feelings  which  have  flowed  from  a  persevering 
attention  to  study,  or  a  restless  neglect  of  it. 

"  I  shall  in  a  few  days  (this  week)  send  you  a  most  beauti 
ful  assortment  of  flower  seeds  and  flowering  shrubs. 

"  If  I  do  not  receive  a  letter  from  you  to-morrow,  I  shall  be 
out  of  all  patience.  Every  day's  journal  will,  I  hope,  say 
something  of  mamma." 

AARON  BURR  TO  THEODOSIA. — Philadelphia,  June  7,  1794. 
"*  I  have  received  my  dear  Theo.'s  two  little,  very  little,  French 
letters.  The  last  left  you  tormented  with  headache  and  tooth 
ache,  too  much  for  one  poor  little  girl  to  suffer  at  one  time,  I 
ara  sure;  you  had  doubtless  taken  some  sudden  cold.  You 


COREESPONDENCE     WITH     HIS    DAUGHTER.    415 

must  fight  them  as  well  as  you  can  till  I  come,  and  then  I  will 
engage  to  keep  them  at  bay. 

"  Whatever  you  shall  translate  of  Terence,  I  beg  you  to 
have  copied  in  a  book  in  a  very  fair  handwriting." 

AAEON  BUEE  TO  THEODOSIA. — Albany,  August  4,  1794. 
"  We  arrived  here  yesterday,  after  a  hot,  tedious  passage  of 
seven  days.  We  were  delayed  as  well  by  accidents  as  by 
calms  and  contrary  winds. 

******* 

"  On  my  arrival  I  was  delighted  to  receive  your  letter  of  the 
30th,  with  the  journal  of  that  and  the  preceding  days.  Your 
history  of  those  three  days  is  very  full  and  satisfactory,  and 
has  induced  me,  by  way  of  return,  to  enlarge  on  the  parti 
culars  of  my  journey.  I  am  quite  gratified  that  you  ha\e 
secured  Mrs.  Penn's  (observe  how  it  is  spelled)  good  opinion, 
and  content  with  your  reasons  for  not  saying  the  civil  things 
you  intended.  In  case  you  should  dine  in  company  with  her, 
I  will  apprize  you  of  one  circumstance,  by  a  trifling  attention 
to  which  you  may  elevate  yourself  in  her  esteem.  She  is  a 
great  advocate  for  a  very  plain,  rather  abstemious  diet  in  chil 
dren,  as  you  may  see  by  her  conduct  with  Miss  Elizabeth.  Be 
careful,  to  eat  of  but  one  dish ;  that  a  plain  roast  or  boiled ; 
little  or  no  gravy  or  butter,  and  very  sparingly  of  desert  or 
fruit ;  not  more  than  half  a  glass  of  wine ;  and  if  more  of  any 
thing  to  eat  or  drink  is  offered,  decline  it.  If  they  ask  a  rea 
son — Papa  thinks  it  not  good  for  me,  is  the  best  that  can  be 
given. 

"  It  was  with  great  pain  and  reluctance  that  I  made  this 
journey  without  you.  But  your  manners  are  not  yet  quite 
sufficiently  formed  to  enable  you  to  do  justice  to  your  own 
character,  and  the  expectations  which  are  formed  of  you,  or  to 
my  wishes.  Improve,  therefore,  to  the  utmost  the  present 
opportunity ;  inquire  of  every  point  of  behavior  about  which 
you  are  embarrassed ;  imitate  as  much  as  you  can  the  manners 
of  Madame  De  S.,  and  observe  also  every  thing  which  Mrs. 
Penn  says  and  does. 

"  You  should  direct  your  own  breakfast.    Send  Cesar  every 


*16  LIFE     OP     AARON     BURR. 

morning  for  a  pint  of  milk  for  you ;  and,  to  save  trouble  tc 
Madame  De  S.,  let  her  know  that  you  eat  at  breakfast  only 
bread  and  butter. 

"  I  wish  you  would  read  over  your  letters  after  you  have 
written  them ;  for  so  many  words  are  omitted,  that  in  some 
places  I  cannot  make  out  the  sense,  if  any  they  contain.  Make 
your  figures  or  ciphers  in  your  letters,  but  write  out  the  num 
bers  at  length,  except  dates.  Adieu,  affectionately  adieu." 

AARON  BURR  TO  THEODOSIA. — Albany ',  August  14,  1794. 
"  Four  pages  in  Lucian  was  a  great  lesson ;  and  why,  my  dear 
Theo.,  can't  this  be  done  a  little  oftener  ?  You  must,  by  this 
time,  I  think,  have  gone  through  Lucian.  I  wish  you  to  begin 
and  go  through  it  again ;  for  it  would  be  shameful  to  pretend 
to  have  read  a  book  of  which  you  could  not  construe  a  page. 
At  the  second  reading  you  will,  I  suppose,  be  able  to  double 
your  lessons ;  so  that  you  may  go  through  it  in  three  weeks. 
You  say  nothing  of  writing  or  learning  Greek  verbs; — is  this 
practice  discontinued?  and  why? 

"  Do  you  continue  to  preserve  Madame  De  S.'s  good  opinion 
of  your  talents  for  the  harp  ?  And  do  you  find  that  you  con 
verse  with  more  facility  in  the  French  ?  These  are  interesting 
questions,  and  your  answer  to  this  will,  I  hope,  answer  fully 
all  the  questions  it  contains.  Vale,  vale." 

AARON  BURR  TO  THEODOSIA. — Albany ',  August  18,  1794 
"Yesterday  I  received  your  letter  and  journal  to  the  13th  in' 
elusive,  On  the  13th,  you  say,  you  got  nine  pages  in  Lucian. 
It  was  to  be  sure,  a  most  surprising  lesson.  I  suspect  it  must 
have  been  the  second  time  going  over;  and  even  then  it 
would  have  been  great,  and  at  the  same  rate  you  will  be 
through  a  second  time  before  my  month  is  up.  I  should  be 
delighted  to  find  it  so.  I  have  not  told  you  directly  that  I 
should  stay  longer  than  a  month,  but  I  was  angry  enough 
with  you  to  stay  three  months  when  you  neglected  to  write 
to  me  for  two  successive  posts. 

"I  am  very  sorry  to  see  so  many  blank  days  with  Mr 
Leshlie.    If  he  is  not  at  your  room  within  a  quarter  of  an 


CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   HIS   DAUGHTER.        417 

hour  of  his  time,  Cesar  should  be  fortwith  sent  off  express 
for  him.  Let  Cesar,  therefore,  call  on  you  every  morning  at 
the  hour  Mr.  Leshlie  ought  to  come." 

AARON  BURR  TO  THEODOSIA. — Philadelphia,  Dec.  21, 1794. 
I  obeyed  faithfully  the  command  in  your  letter  which  bade 
me  read  the  journal  first,  and  I  read  it  with  great  eagerness, 
hoping  to  find  what  I  did  find  in  the  last  sentence.  That  16th 
was  really  a  surprising  day.  Three  hundred  and  ninety-five 
lines,  all  your  exercises,  and  all  your  music.  Go  on,  my  deai 
girl,  and  you  will  become  all  that  I  wish. 

"  I  keep  carefully  your  letters  and  journals,  and  when  we 
meet  you  shall  read  them  again,  which  I  am  sure  you  will  do 
with  pleasure.  It  is  always  delightful  to  see  and  correct  our 
own  errors. 

"  Monsieur  Maupertius  is  highly  mortified  that  you  should 
suppose  him  so  ignorant  as  to  have  lost  himself  on  the  road. 
It  seems  he  only  went  a  little  off  the  highway  from  curiosity 
to  see  (he  country. 

"I  hope  you  like  Terence.  Can't  you  lug  a  scrap  from  him 
now  and  then,  apropos,  into  your  letters?  It  will  please 
your  affectionate  papa,  A.  BURR." 

AARON  BURR  TO  THEODOSIA. — Philadelphia,  January  23, 
1797.  "You  must  not  '  puzzle  all  day,'  my  dear  little  girl,  at 
one  hard  lesson.  After  puzzling  faithfully  one  hour,  apply  to 
your  arithmetic,  and  do  enough  to  convince  the  doctor  that 
you  have  not  been  idle.  Neither  must  you  be  discouraged  by 
one  unlucky  day.  The  doctor  is  a  very  reasonable  man,  and 
makes  all  due  allowance  for  the  levities  as  well  as  for  the 
stupidity  of  children.  I  think  you  will  not  often  challenge 
his  indulgence  on  either  score. 

"  And  do  you  regret  that  you  are  not  also  a  woman  ?  That 
you  are  not  numbered  in  that  galaxy  of  beauty  which  adorns 
<m  assembly-room  ?  Coquetting  for  admiration  and  attracting 
Aattery  ?  No.  I  answer  with  confidence.  You  feel  that  you 
are  maturing  for  solid  friendship.  The  friends  you  gain  you 
will  never  lose ;  and  no  one,  I  think,  will  dare  to  insult  your 


418  T,IFE      OF     AARON     BURK. 

understanding  by  such  compliments  as  are  most  graciously 
received  by  too  many  of  your  sex. 

"  How  unpardonably  you  neglect  C.  and  N.  B.  Where  are 
the  promised  letters  ?  I  see  with  delight  that  you  improve  in 
diction,  and  in  the  combination  and  arrangement  of  your  little 
ideas.  With  a  view  to  farther  improvement,  your  letters  to 
me  are  a  most  useful  exercise.  I  feel  persuaded  that  all  my 
hopes  and  wishes  concerning  you  will  be  accomplished. 

"Never  use  a  word  which  does  not  fully  express  your 
thoughts,  or  which,  for  any  other  reason,  does  not  please  you. 
Hunt  your  dictionary  till  you  find  one.  Arrange  a  whole  sen 
tence  in  your  mind  before  you  write  a  word  of  it ;  and,  what 
ever  may  be  your  'hurry'  (never  be  in  a  hurry) ,  read  over 
a  letter  slowly  and  carefully  before  you  seal  it.  Interline  and 
erase  lightly  with  your  pen  what  may  appear  to  you  to  re 
quire  amendment  or  correction.  I  dispense  with  your  copy 
ing  unless  the  letter  should  be  much  defaced,  in  which  case 
keep  it  till  the  next  mail.  Copy  and  improve  it. 

"  Your  play  on  '  Light '  is  pretty  and  witty,  and  the  tun? 
on  the  dear  little  letter  does  not  dishonour  the  metempsy 
chosis  of  Madame  Dacier. 

"  I  shall  probably  see  you  very  soon ;  we  will  then  re-ar 
range  your  hours,  and  endeavour  to  remove  the  present  and 
forestall  all  future  troubles.  I  should  be  mortified — I  should 
be  almost  offended — if  I  should  find  that  you  passed  over 
any  word  in  my  letters  without  becoming  perfectly  acquaint 
ed  with  its  meaning,  use,  and  etymology" 

AAEON  BURR  TO  TIIEODOSIA. — Albany,  January  4,  1790. 
"On  Tuesday  I  arrived  here,  and  yesterday  received  your  two 
letters  of  the  29th  and  30th  of  December.  Your  despondency 
distresses  me  extremely.  It  is  indeed  unfortunate,  my  dear 
Theodosia,  that  we  are  constrained  to  be  separated.  I  had 
never  so  much  need  of  your  society  and  friendship,  nor  you, 
perhaps,  of  mine.  It  is  a  misfortune  which  I  sincerely  regret 
every  hour  of  the  day.  It  is  one,  however,  which  you  must 
aid  me  to  support,  by  testifying  that  you  can  support  your 
share  of  it  with  firmness  and  activity.  An  effort  mad« 


CORRESPONDENCE     WITH     HIS     DAUGHTER.       419 

fc  ith  decision  will  convince  you  that  you  are  able  to  accom 
plish  all  I  wish  and  all  you  desire.  Determination  and  per 
severance  in  every  laudable  undertaking  is  the  great  point 
of  difference  between  the  silly  and  the  wise.  It  is  essentially 
a  part  of  your  character,  and  requires  but  an  effort  to  bring 
it  into  action.  The  happiness  of  my  life  depends  on  your 
exertions ;  for  what  else,  for  whom  else  do  I  live  ?  Not  that 
the  acquisition  of  the  languages  alone  can  decide  your  happi 
ness  or  mine;  but  if  you  should  abandon  the  attempt,  or 
despair  of  success,  or  relax  your  endeavours,  it  would  indicate 
a  feebleness  of  character  which  would  dishearten  me  exceed 
ingly.  It  is  for  my  sake  that  you  now  labour.  I  shall  ac 
knowledge  your  advancement  with  gratitude  and  with  the 
most  lively  pleasure.  Let  me  entreat  you  not  to  be  dis 
couraged.  I  know  you  to  be  capable  of  much  greater  efforts 
than  this  will  require.  If  your  young  teacher,  after  a  week's 
trial,  should  not  suit  you,  dismiss  him  on  any  pretence  with 
out  wounding  his  pride,  and  take  the  old  Scotchman.  Resolve 
to  succeed,  and  you  cannot  fail. 

"  I  parted  with  you  amid  so  much  hurry  and  confusion,  and 
so  many  vexations,  that,  when  I  had  time  to  reflect,  I  seemed 
to  have  said  none  of  the  things  which  I  had  wished  and  in 
tended.  I  reproached  myself  perpetually  that  I  had  not 
urged  you  to  attend  me.  Your  letters  almost  confirmed  me 
in  the  design  of  returning  to  fetch  you ;  and  yet  more  sober 
reason  seems  to  tell  me  that  these  things  were  rather  the 
effusions  of  sentiment  than  of  a  deliberate  estimate  of  your 
real  interests.  In  six  weeks,  however,  we  shall  meet. 

"  I  intended  to  have  recommended  to  you  the  ancient  and 
modern  history  of  Millot.  Natalie  has  some  of  the  volumes — 
Borne  are  in  the  library  at  Mrs.  D.'s,  of  which  I  hope  you 
ksep  tLe  key.  Millot  is  concise,  perspicuous,  and  well  se 
lected.  Rollin  is  full  of  tedious  details  and  superstitious  non 
sense. 

"  There  is  nothing  more  certain  than  that  you  may  form 
what  countenance  you  please.  An  open,  serene,  intelligent 
countenance,  a  little  brightened  by  cheerfulness,  not  wrought 
into  smiles  or  simpers,  will  presently  become  familiar  and 


420  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BURR. 

grow  into  habit.  A  year  will  with  certainty  accomplish  it 
Your  physiognomy  has  naturally  much  of  benevolence,  and 
it  will  cost  you  some  labour  (which  you  may  well  spare)  to 
eradicate  it.  Avoid,  for  ever  avoid,  a  smile  or  sneer  of  con 
tempt  ;  never  even  mimic  them.  A  frown  of  sullenness  or 
discontent  is  but  one  degree  less  hateful.  You  seem  to  re 
quire  these  things  of  me,  or  I  should  have  thought  them  un 
necessary.  I  see,  with  pleasure  I  see,  that  you  have  engaged 
in  this  matter.  We  shall  both  be  gratified  by  the  result, 
which  cannot  fail  to  accord  with  our  wishes." 


BURR  TO  THEODOSIA.  —  Albany,  February  11,  1799. 
"  Your  name  to  one  letter  is  beautifully  written  ;  to  the  other, 
la  la.  The  handwriting  of  the  letters  various  ;  very  good, 
very  bad,  and  middling  ;  emblematic,  shall  I  say,  of  the  fair 
authoress?  Please  to  resolve  me  whether  author  is  not  of 
both  genders,  for  I  hate  the  appendix  of  ess  ? 

"  What  novel  of  Miss  Burney  or  D'Arbley  is  that  in  which 
the  heroine  begins  by  an  interesting  account  of  little  details 
on  her  debut  in  London,  and  particularly  of  a  ball  where  she 
met  Lord  Somebody  and  did  twenty  ridiculous  things  ?  I 
want  such  a  description  of  a  ball  from  you.  Be  pleased  to 
read  those  first  letters  of  the  novel  referred  to,  and  take  them 
for  a  model. 

"  The  ideas,  of  which  you  are  the  object,  that  daily  pass 
through  my  mind,  would,  if  committed  to  writing,  fill  an 
octavo  volume;  invent,  then,  and  teach  me  some  mode  of 
writing  with  the  facility  and  rapidity  that  we  think,  and  you 
shall  receive  by  every  mail  some  hundred  pages.  But  to  select 
from  a  thousand  thoughts  that  which  is  best  and  most  sea 
sonable  ;  of  the  variety  of  attitudes  of  which  every  object  is 
susceptible,  to  determine  on  that  which  is  most  suitable  for 
the  thing  and  the  occasion  ;  of  all  possible  modes  of  expres 
sion  and  language,  to  discern  the  most  appropriate,  hie  labor, 
hoc  opus  est.  Yet  have  we  both  known  persons  of  a  moderate 
grade  of  intellect  who  could  write  whenever  you  would  put 
*  pen  in  their  hands,  and  for  any  length  of  time  you  might 
please,  without  one  moment  of  reflection  or  embarrassment 


CORRESPONDENCE    WITH     HIS     DAUGHTER.      421 

Pray  explain  to  me  this  phenomenon.  All  this  I  confess  is 
not  very  applicable  to  you  or  to  my  present  occupation,  for  I 
generally  write  you  what  first  offers,  without  considering 
whether  it  be  the  best ;  and  if  many  obtrude  themselves  at 
once,  I  write  you,  as  at  present,  of— nothing. 

"  Indeed,  my  dear  Theodosia,  I  have  many,  many  moments 
of  solicitude  about  you.  Remember  that  occupation  will  in 
fallibly  expel  the  fiend  ennui,  and  that  solitude  is  the  bug 
bear  of  fools.  God  bless  and  aid  thee." 

AAEON  BURR  TO  THEODOSIA. — Albany,  January  30,  1800. 
"  At  length  John  and  Alexis  have  arrived ;  but  what  gratified 
me  more,  and  what  I  looked  for  with  much  more  impatience 
was,  a  letter.  I  selected  yours  from  the  number  which  they 
brought  me.  I  was  not  disappointed.  It  merits  all  the 
eagerness  with  which  I  had  expected  it. 

"  You  reflect,  and  that  is  a  security  for  your  conduct.  Our 
most  humiliating  errors  proceed  usually  from  inattention,  and 
from  that  mental  dissipation  which  we  call  heedlessness.  You 
estimate  your  situation  with  great  truth.  Many  are  surprised 
that  I  could  repose  in  you  so  great  a  trust  as  that  of  your 
self;  but  I  knew  that  you  were  equal  to  it,  and  I  am  not 
deceived. 

"  You  do  right  to  stay  much  at  home.  It  will  scarcely  be 
worth  while  to  go  to  V.  P.'s.  C.  is  excluded  from  all  rule. 
I  am  quite  oppressed  with  the  kindness  and  friendship  of  t>.  b. 
towards  you.  How  fortunate  you  are  in  such  a  friend.  If  their 
invitations  should  be  so  frequent  as  to  interrupt  your  lessons, 
"ou  will  do  well  to  refuse  even  them.  There  is  a  measure  to 
be  observed  in  the  acceptance  of  the  good  offices  even  of  our 
best  friends ;  and  at  your  age,  to  prefer  duty  from  pleasure 
when  they  are  in  collision,  is  a  degree  of  firmness  rarely  ex 
hibited,  and,  therefore,  the  more  calculated  to  inspire  respect. 
I  perceive  that  I  am  not  very  explicit ;  but  you  will  reflect 
and  discern  my  meaning.  Montesquieu  said  he  wrote  to  make 
people  think,  and  not  to  make  them  read — and  why  may  not 
A.  Br.  ?  Perhaps,  however,  there  may  be  no  collisions ;  and 
then  your  good  sense  will  teach  you  not  to  wear  out  good-will." 


422  LIFE    OF    AARON    BURR. 

THEODOSIA  (married)  TO  AARON  BURR. — Petersburg^ 
Vfl.,  October  21,  1803.  "The  longer  I  live,  the  more 
frequently  the  truth  of  your  advice  evinces  itself,  and  nevei 
was  there  any  thing  more  true,  than  that  occupation  is  neces 
sary  to  give  one  command  over  themselves.  I  confess  I  feel 
myself  growing  quite  cross  on  the  journey,  and  it  is  really  to 
be  feared,  that,  unless  we  soon  finish  it,  the  serene  tranquility 
of  my  placid  temper  may  be  injured.  Novel  reading  has,  I 
find,  not  only  the  ill  effect  of  rendering  people  romantic, 
which,  thanks  to  my  father  on  earth,  I  am  long  past,  but  they 
really  furnish  no  occupation  to  the  mind.  A  series  of  events 
follow  so  rapidly,  and  are  interwoven  with  remarks  so  com 
monplace  and  so  spun  out,  that  there  is  nothing  left  to  reflect 
upon.  A  collection  of  images,  which  amuse  only  from  their 
variety  and  rapid  succession,  like  the  pictures  of  a  magic 
lantern;  not  like  a  piece  of  Vandeiiyn,  where  the  painter 
makes  fine  touches,  and  leaves  to  your  vanity  at  least  the 
merit  of  discovering  them.  O !  would  I  had  my  friend 
Sterne.  Half,  he  says,  has  no  meaning,  and,  therefore,  every 
time  I  read  him  I  find  a  different  one. 

"The  boy  has  perfectly  recovered.  He  remembers  you 
astonishingly.  He  is  constantly  repeating  that  you  are  gone, 
and  calling  alter  you.  When  I  told  him  to  call  Mr.  Alston 
grandfather —  '  Grandfather  gone,'  says  he.  I  kiss  you  from 
my  heart." 

AARON  BURR  TO  THEODOSIA. — New  York,  July  1,  1804. 
(A  few  days  before  the  duel  with  Hamilton.)  "  Having  been 
shivering  with  cold  all  day,  though  in  perfect  health,  I 
have  now,  just  at  sunset,  had  a  fire  in  my  library,  and  am 
sitting  near  it  and  enjoying  it,  if  that  word  be  applicable  to 
any  thing  done  in  solitude.  Some  very  wise  man,  however, 
has  exclaimed, 

"  Oh!  fools,  who  think  it  solitude  to  be  alone." 

Tliis  is  but  poetry.     Let  us,  therefore,  drop  the  subject,  lest 
tt  lead  to  another  on  which  I  have  imposed  silence  on  myself 


CORRESPONDENCE    WITH     HIS     DAUGHTER.      423 

*4  You  ought  to  be  collecting  a  few  books  for  your  own  use 
One  way  of  forming  a  small  library,  and  which  I  recommend 
to  you,  is  to  note  down  the  title  of  every  book  which,  either 
from  its  reputation  or  from  perusal,  you  may  wish  to  possess. 
Make  you  a  small  memorandum  book  for  this  purpose.  If 
they  be  written  on  loose  scraps,  by  the  time  you  get  a  dozen, 
eleven  of  them  will  be  lost.  I  recommend  to  you  a  new 
publication  called  the  Edinburgh  Review.  One  number  is 
issued  every  three  months.  The  plan  of  the  editors  differs 
from  that  of  similar  works  in  that  they  give  more  copious  ex 
tracts,  and  notice  only  books  of  merit  or  reputation. 

"I  wait  impatiently  for  some  of  your  tales.  No  hasty 
scrawls,  madam,  for  I  will  correct  nothing.  We  have  now 
here  three  shiploads  of  South  Carolinians,  who  all  find  the 
weather  intolerably  hot,  though  I  have  slept  under  a  blanket 
every  night  except  one  in  all  June." 

AARON  BURR  TO  THEODOSIA. — New  York,  July  10,  1804. 
(The  day  before  the  duel.)  "  Having  lately  written  my  will, 
and  given  my  private  letters  and  papers  in  charge  to  you,  I 
have  no  other  direction  to  give  you  on  the  subject  but  to  re 
quest  you  to  burn  all  such  as,  if  by  accident  made  public, 
would  injure  any  person.  This  is  more  particularly  appli 
cable  to  the  letters  of  my  female  correspondents.  All  my  let 
ters,  and  copies  of  letters,  of  which  I  have  retained  copies,  are 
in  the  six  blue  boxes.  If  your  husband  or  any  one  else  (no 
one,  however,  could  do  it  so  well  as  he)  should  think  it  worth 
while  to  write  a  sketch  of  my  life,  some  materials  will  be 
found  among  these  letters. 

"  Tell  my  dear  Natalie  that  I  have  not  left  her  anything, 
for  the  very  good  reason  that  I  had  nothing  to  leave  to  any 
one.  My  estate  will  just  about  pay  my  debts  and  no  more — 
I  mean,  if  I  should  die  this  year.  If  I  live  a  few  years,  it  is 
probable  things  may  be  better.  Give  Natalie  one  of  the 
pictures  of  me.  There  are  three  in  this  house ;  that  of  Stewart, 
and  two  by  Vanderlyn.  Give  her  any  other  little  tokens  she 
may  desire.  One  of  those  pictures,  also,  I  pray  you  to  give 
Vo  Doctor  Eustis.  To  Bartow  something — what  you  please, 


424  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

"I  pray  you  and  your  husband  to  convey  to  Peggy  the 
email  lot,  not  numbered,  which  is  the  fourth  article  mentioned 
in  my  list  of  property.  It  is  worth  about  two  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars.  Give  her  also  fifty  dollars  in  cash  as  a  reward 
for  her  fidelity.  Dispose  of  Nancy  as  you  please.  She  is 
honest,  robust,  and  good-tempered.  Peter  is  the  most  intel 
ligent  and  best-disposed  black  I  have  ever  known.  (I  mean 
the  black  boy  I  bought  last  fall  from  Mr.  Turnbull.)  I  advise 
you,  by  all  means,  to  keep  him  as  the  valet  of  your  son.  Per 
suade  Peggy  to  live  with  you  if  you  can. 

"  I  have  desired  that  my  wearing  apparel  be  given  to  Fred 
eric.  Give  him  also  a  sword  or  pair  of  pistols. 

"  Burn  immediately  a  small  bundle,  tied  with  a  red  string, 
which  you  will  find  in  the  little  flat  writing-case — that  which 
we  used  with  the  curricle.  The  bundle  is  marked  "  Put." 

"  The  letters  of  Clara  (the  greater  part  of  them)  are  tied  up 
in  a  white  handkerchief,  which  you  will  find  in  the  blue  box 
No.  5.  You  may  hand  them  to  Mari,  if  you  please.  My  let 
ters  to  Clara  are  in  the  same  bundle.  You,  and  by-and-by 
Aaron  Burr  Alston,  may  laugh  at  gamp  when  you  look  over 
this  nonsense. 

"  Many  of  the  letters  of  Clara  will  be  found  among  my  or 
dinary  letters,  filed  and  marked,  sometimes  "  Clara"  some 
times  "L." 

"  I  am  indebted  to  you,  my  dearest  Theodosia,  for  a  very 
great  portion  of  the  happiness  which  I  have  enjoyed  in  this 
life.  You  have  completely  satisfied  all  that  my  heart  and  af- 
"ections  had  hoped  or  even  wished.  With  a  little  more  per- 
."everance,  determination,  and  industry,  you  will  obtain  all  that 
my  ambition  or  vanity  had  fondly  imagined.  Let  your  son 
have  occasion  to  be  proud  that  he  had  a  mother.  Adieu. 
Adieu.  A.  BURR. 

"  I  have  directed  that  the  flat  writing-case  and  the  blue  box 
No.  5,  both  in  the  library,  be  opened  only  by  you.  There 
are  six  of  these  blue  boxes,  which  contain  my  letters  and 
copies  of  letters,  except  those  two  clumsy  quarto  volumes, 
In  which  letter-press  copies  are  pasted.  They  are  some- 


ANECDOTE   OF  THEODOSIA.         425 

in  the  library.  The  keys  of  the  other  five  boxes  are 
in  No.  5. 

"  It  just  now  occurs  to  me  to  give  poor  dear  Frederic  my 
watch.  I  have  already  directed  my  executors  here  to  give 
him  my  wearing  apparel.  When  you  come  hither  you  must 
send  for  Frederic,  and  open  your  whole  heart  to  him.  He 
loves  me  almost  as  much  as  Theodosia  does ;  and  he  does  love 
you  to  adoration. 

"I  have  just  now  found  four  packets  of  letters  between 
Clara  and  Mentor  besides  those  in  the  handkerchief.  I  have 
thrown  them  loose  into  box  No.  5.  What  a  medley  you  will 
find  hi  that  box  ! 

"  The  seal  of  the  late  General  Washington,  which  you  will 
find  in  the  blue  box  No.  5,  was  given  to  me  by  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Law.  You  may  keep  it  for  your  son,  or  give  it  to  whom  you 
please. 

"Assure  Mrs.  Law  of  my  latest  recollection.  Adieu. 
Adieu.  A.  BUBR." 


vin. 

ANECDOTE    OF    THEODOSIA. 

WE  have  one  little  glimpse  of  Theodosia  in  her  happy  days, 
in  the  recently  published  life  of  Edward  Livingston,*  who  was 
Mayor  of  New  York  during  part  of  the  Vice-presidency  of 
Aaron  Burr.  The  facetious  magistrate,  we  are  told,  had  the 
pleasure  of  escorting  Theodosia  on  a  visit  to  a  French  frigate, 

*  "Life  of  Edward  Livingston,"  by  Charles  Havens  Hunt,  page  97. 


426  LIFE     OF     AAEON     BURR. 

lying  in  the  harbor,  perhaps  one  of  the  vessels  that  afterwards 
fired  minute  guns  on  the  day  of  Hamilton's  funeral.  On  the 
way  Mr.  Livingston,  an  inveterate  punster,  exclaimed :  "  Now, 
Theodosia,  you  must  bring  none  of  your  sparks  on  board* 
They  have  a  magazine,  and  we  should  all  be  blown  up !" 

The  curtain  drops  on  the  gay  party,  and  the  bright  scene. 
Theodosia's  unclouded  days  were  nearly  spent.  This  was  one 
of  the  last  of  them. 


IX. 

RICHMOND    HILL    AND    OLD    NEW    YORK. 

IN  one  of  the  volumes  of  the  Talisman,  an  annual  published 
in  this  city,  thirty  or  forty  years  ago,  I  find  some  interesting 
reminiscences  of  New  York,  at  the  time  when  Burr  and 
Hamilton  were  among  its  leading  citizens. 

"  In  New  York,"  remarks  the  anonymous  writer  of  the  paper 
referred  to,  "  the  progress  of  alteration  is  so  rapid,  that  a  few 
years  effect  what  in  Europe  is  the  work  of  centuries,  and 
sweep  away  both  the  memory  and  the  external  vestiges  of  the 
generation  that  precedes  us. 

"  I  was  forcibly  struck  with  this  last  reflection  when  not 
long  since  I  took  a  walk  with  my  friend  Mr.  De  Viellecour, 
during  his  last  visit  to  New  York,  over  what  I  recollected  as 
the  playground  of  myself  and  my  companions  in  the  time  ef 
my  boyhood,  and  what  Mr.  De  Viellecour  remembered  as  the 
spot  w^here  his  contemporaries  at  an  early  period  used  to 
shoot  quails  and  woodcocks.  We  passed  over  a  part  of  the 
city  which  in  my  time  had  been  hills,  hollows,  marshes,  and 
rivulets,  without  having  observed  anything  to  awaken  in 


RICHMOND     HILL     AND     OLD     NEW     YORK.         427 

either  of  us  a  recollection  of  what  the  place  was  before  the 
surface  had  been  levelled  and  the  houses  erected,  until,  arriv 
ing  at  the  corner  of  Charlton  and  Varick  streets,  we  came  to 
an  edifice  utterly  dissimilar  to  anything  around  it.  It  was  a 
wooden  building  of  massive  architecture,  with  a  lofty  portico 
supported  by  Ionic  columns,  the  front  walls  decorated  with 
pilasters  of  the  same  order,  and  its  whole  appearance  distin 
guished  by  that  Palladian  character  of  rich  though  sober  orna 
ment,  which  indicated  that  it  had  been  built  about  the  middle 
of  the  last  century.  We  both  stopped  involuntarily  and  at  the 
same  moment  before  it. 

" '  If  I  did  not  see  that  house  on  a  flat  plain,'  said  Mr.  De 
Viellecour,  '  penned  in  by  this  little  gravelly  court  yard,  and 
surrounded  by  these  starveling  catalpas  and  horse-chesnuts,  I 
should  say  at  once  that  it  was  a  mansion  which  I  very  well 
remember,  where  in  my  youth  I  passed  many  pleasant  hours  in 
the  society  of  its  hospitable  owner,  and  where,  afterwards, 
when  I  had  the  honor  of  representing  my  county  in  the  As 
sembly,  which  then  sat  in  New  York,  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
dining  officially  with  Vice  President  Adams.  That  house  re 
sembled  this  exactly,  but  then  it  was  upon  a  noble  hill,  several 
hundred  feet  in  height,  commanding  a  vie  w  of  the  river  and 
of  the  Jersey  shore.  There  was  a  fine  rich  lawn  around  it, 
shaded  by  large  and  venerable  oaks  and  lindens,  and  skirted 
on  every  side  by  a  young  but  thrifty  natural  wood  of  an  hun 
dred  acres  or  more.' 

"Perceiving  it  to  be  a  house  of  public  entertainment,  I 
proposed  to  Mr.  Viellecour  that  we  should  enter  it.  We  went 
into  a  spacious  hall,  with  a  small  room  on  each  side  opening 
to  more  spacious  apartments  beyond.  '  Yes,'  said  Mr.  Vielle 
cour,  '  this  is  certainly  the  house  I  spoke  of.'  He  immediately, 
with  the  air  of  a  man  accustomed  to  the  building,  opened  a 
side  door  on  the  right,  and  began  to  ascend  a  wide  stair-case 
with  a  heavy  mahogany  railing.  It  conducted  us  to  a  large 
room  on  the  second  story,  with  wile  Venetian  windows  in 
<rout,  and  a  door  opening  to  a  balcony  under  the  portico. 
'  Yes,'  said  my  friend,  '  here  was  the  dining  room.  There,  in 
toe  centre  of  the  table,  sat  Vice  President  Adams,  in  fall 


428  LIFE      OF     AAEON     BURR. 

dress,  with  his  bag  and  solitaire,  his  hair  frizzed  out  each  side 
of  his  face,  as  you  see  it  in  Stuart's  older  pictures  of  him.  On 
his  right  sat  Baron  Steuben,  our  royalist  republican  disciplin 
arian  general.  On  his  left  was  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  had  just 
returned  from  France,  conspicuous  in  his  red  waistcoat  and 
breeches,  the  fashion  of  Versailles.  Opposite  sat  Mrs.  Adams, 
with  her  cheerful  intelligent  face.  She  was  placed  between 
the  courtly  Count  du  Moustiers,  the  French  ambassador,  in 
his  red-heeled  shoes  and  ear-rings,  and  the  grave,  polite,  and 
formally  bowing  Mr.  Van  Birkel,  the  learned  and  able  envoy 
of  Holland.  There,  too,  was  Chancellor  Livingston,  then  still 
in  the  prime  of  life,  so  deaf  as  to  make  conversation  with  him 
difficult,  yet  so  overflowing  with  wit,  eloquence  and  informa 
tion,  that  while  listening  to  him  the  difficulty  was  forgotten. 
The  rest  were  members  of  Congress  and  of  our  legislature, 
some  of  them  no  inconsiderable  men. 

"  '  Being  able  to  talk  French,  a  rare  accomplishment  in  Am 
erica  at  that  time,  a  place  was  assigned  to  me  next  the  Count. 
The  dinner  was  served  up  after  the  fashion  of  that  day,  abun 
dant,  and  as  was  then  thought,  splendid.  Du  Moustiers,  after 
taking  a  little  soup,  kept  an  empty  plate  before  him,  took  now 
and  then  a  crumb  of  bread  into  his  mouth,  and  declined  all 
the  luxuries  of  the  table  that  were  pressed  upon  him,  from  the 
roast  beef  down  to  the  lobsters.  We  were  all  in  perplexity 
to  know  how  the  Count  could  dine,  when  at  length  his  own 
body  cook,  in  a  clean  white  linen  cap,  a  clean  white  tablier 
before  him,  a  brilliantly  white  damask  serviette  flung  over  his 
arm,  and  a  warm  pie  of  truffles  and  game  in  his  hand,  came 
bustling  eagerly  through  the  crowd  of  waiters,  and  placed  it 
before  the  Count,  who,  reserving  a  moderate  share  to  himself, 
distributed  the  rest  among  his  neighbors,  of  whom  being  one, 
I  can  attest  to  the  truth  of  the  story,  and  the  excellence  of  the 
pate.  But  come,  iet  us  go,  and  look  at  the  fine  view  from  the 
balcony.' 

"  My  friend  stepped  out  the  door,  and  I  followed  him.  The 
worthy  old  gentleman  seemed  much  disappointed  at  finding 
the  \  iew  lie  spoke  of  confined  to  the  opposite  side  of  Varick 
street,  built  up  with  two-story  brick  houses,  while  half  a  doze* 


RICHMOND      HILL     AND     OLD     NEW     YORK.     429 

ragged  boys  were  playing  marbles  on  the  side  walks.  '  Well,' 
said  he,  '  the  view  is  gone,  that  is  clear  enough ;  but  I  cannot, 
for  my  part,  understand  how  the  house  has  got  so  much  lower 
than  formerly.' 

"  I  explained  to  my  friend  the  omnipotence  of  the  Corpora 
tion,  by  which  every  high  hill  has  been  brought  low,  and  every 
valley  exalted,  and  by  which  I  presumed  this  house  had  been 
abased  to  a  level  with  its  humbler  neighbors,  the  hill  on  which 
it  stood  having  been  literally  dug  away  from  under  it,  and  the 
house  gently  let  down  without  even  disturbing  its  furniture, 
by  the  mechanical  genius  and  dexterity  of  some  of  our  eastern 
brethren. 

" '  This  is  wrong,'  said  the  old  gentleman ;  c  these  New 
Yorkers  seem  to  take  a  pleasure  in  defacing  the  monuments 
of  the  good  old  times,  and  of  depriving  themselves  of  all  ven 
erable  and  patriotic  associations.  This  house  should  have  been 
continued  in  its  old  situation,  on  its  own  original  and  proper 
eminence,  where  its  very  aspect  would  have  suggested  its 
history.  It  was  built  upwards  of  seventy  years  ago,  by  a 
gallant  British  officer,  who  had  done  good  service  to  his  na 
tive  country  and  to  this.  Here  Lord  Amherst  was  entertained, 
and  held  his  head-quarters,  at  the  close  of  those  successful 
American  campaigns  which  by  the  way  prevented  half  the 
State  of  New  York  from  being  now  a  part  of  Canada.  Here 
were  afterwards  successively  the  quarters  of  several  of  our 
American  generals  in  the  beginning  of  the  revolution,  and 
again  after  the  evacuation  of  the  city.  Here  John  Adams 
lived  as  Vice  President,  during  the  time  that  Congress  sat  in 
New  York ;  and  here  Aaron  Burr,  during  the  whole  of  his 
Vice  Presidency,  kept  up  an  elegant  hospitality,  and  filled  the 
room  in  which  we  stand  with  a  splendid  library,  equally  indi 
cative  of  his  taste  and  scholarship.  The  last  considerable  man 
that  lived  here  was  Counsellor  Benzon,  afterwards  governor 
of  the  Danish  islands — a  man  who,  like  you,  Mr.  Herbert,  had 
traveled  in  every  part  of  the  world,  knew  everything,  and 
talked  all  languages.  I  recollect  dining  here  in  company 
with  thirteen  gentlemen,  none  of  whom  I  ever  saw  before,  but 
&11  pleasant  follow*;,  all  men  of  education  and  of  some  nate — 


430  LIFE     OF    AAEON    I3UKE. 

the  Counselled  a  Norwegian,  I  the  only  American,  the  rest  of 
every  different  nation  in  Europe,  and  no  two  of  the  same,  and 
all  of  us  talking  bad  French  together. 

" '  There  are  few  old  houses,'  continued  Mr.  De  Viellecour, 
'  with  the  sight  of  which  my  youth  was  familiar,  that  I  find 
here  now.  Two  or  three,  however,  I  still  recognize.  One  of 
these  is  the  house  built  by  my  friend  Chief  Justice  Jay,  in  the 
lower  part  of  Broadway,  and  now  occupied  as  a  boarding 
house.  It  is,  as  you  know,  a  large  square  three-story  house, 
of  hewn  stone,  as  substantially  built  within  as  without,  dura 
ble,  spacious,  and  commodious,  and,  like  the  principles  of  the 
builder,  always  useful  and  excellent,  whether  hi  or  out  of 
fashion.' 

" '  I  believe  he  did  not  reside  there  long,'  said  I. 

" '  No,  he  soon  afterwards  removed  into  the  house  built  by 
the  State  for  the  governors,  and  then  to  Albany,  so  that  I  saw 
little  of  him  in  that  house  beyond  a  mere  morning  visit  or  two. 
No  remaining  object  brings  him  to  my  mind  so  strongly  as 
the  square  pew  in  Trinity  Church,  about  the  centre  of  the 
north  side  of  the  north  aisle.  It  is  now,  like  everything  else 
in  New  York,  changed.  It  is  divided  into  several  smaller 
pews,  though  still  retaining  externally  its  original  form.  That 
pew  was  the  scene  of  his  regular,  sober,  unostentatious  devo 
tion,  and  I  never  look  at  it  without  a  feeling  of  veneration. 
But,  Mr.  Herbert,  can  you  tell  me  what  is  become  of  the  house 
of  my  other  old  friend,  Governor  George  Clinton,  at  Green 
wich?' 

" '  It  is  still  in  existence,'  I  answered,  c  although  in  very 
great  danger  of  shortly  being  let  down,  like  the  one  in  which 
we  now  are.' 

" 4  When  I  was  in  the  Assembly,'  pursued  Mr.  De  Vielle* 
cour,  c  the  Governor  used  to  date  his  messages  at c  Greenwich, 
near  New  York.'  Now,  I  suppose,  the  mansion  is  no  longer 
near,  but  in  New  York.' 

" c  Not  quite,'  I  replied,  c  but  doubtless  will  be,  next  year, 
In  the  mean  time  the  house  looks  as  it  did.' 

" 1 1  remember  it  well-  —a  long,  low,  venerable,  irregular 
,  cottage-like  brick  and  wood  building,  pleasant,  not 


RICHMOND     HILL     AND     OLD     NEW     YORK.     431 

withstanding,  with  a  number  of  small  low  rooms,  and  one  very 
spacious  parlor,  delightfully  situated  on  a  steep  bank,  some 
fifty  feet  above  the  shore,  on  which  the  waves  of  the  Hudson 
and  the  tides  of  the  bay  dashed  and  sported.  There  was  a 
fine  orchard  too,  and  a  garden  on  the  north ;  but  I  suppose 
that  if  not  gone,  they  are  going,  as  they  say  in  Pearl  street.' 

"  *  It  is  even  so — were  you  often  there  ?' 

" '  Not  often,  but  I  had  there  to  divers  official  dinners,  and 
at  one  of  them  I  recollect  sitting  next  to  old  Melancthon 
Smith,  a  self-taught  orator,  the  eloquent  opposer  of  the  adop 
tion  of  the  federal  constitution,  and  the  Patrick  Henry  of  the 
New  York  Convention  of  1788,  who  for  weeks  successfully 
resisted  the  powerful  and  discursive  logic  of  Hamilton,  and 
the  splendid  rhetoric  of  Robert  R.  Livingston.  On  my  other 
side,  and  nearer  the  Governor,  sat  Brissot  de  Warville,  then 
on  a  visit  to  this  country,  whose  history  as  a  benevolent  phil 
osophic  speculatist,  an  ardent  though  visionary  republican, 
and  one  of  the  unfortunate  leaders  of  the  Gironde  party  in  the 
French  National  Assembly,  every  body  knows.' 

" '  But  you  say  nothing  of  the  Governor  himself?' 

" '  Oh,  surely  you  must  have  known  him !  If  you  did  not, 
Trumbull's  full  length  of  him  in  the  City  Hall  here,  taken 
forty  years  ago,  and  Ceracchi's  bust,  of  about  the  same  date, 
will  give  you  an  excellent  idea  of  his  appearance.' 

"  '  Oh  yes — his  appearance  was  familiar  to  me,  and  I  knew 
him  personally  too ;  but  when  I  was  in  his  company,  I  was 
too  young  to  have  much  conversation  with  him,  and  after 
wards,  when  he  was  last  Governor,  and  during  his  Vice-Pre- 
Bidency,  I  was,  you  know,  out  of  the  country.' 

" '  His  conversation  and  manners  in  private,  corresponded 
exactly  with  his  public  character  and  his  looks.  His  person 
and  face  had  a  general  resemblance  to  those  of  Washington, 
but  though  always  dignified,  and  in  old  age  venerable,  he  had 
not  that  air  of  heroic  elevation  which  threw  such  majesty 
around  the  father  of  the  republic.  There  was  a  similar  re 
semblance  in  mind.  If  he  had  not  the  calm  grandeur  of 
Washington's  intellect,  he  had  the  same  plain,  practical,  sound, 
wholesome  common  sense — the  same  unpretending  but  un 


432  LIFE      OF     AAROX     BURR. 

erring  sagacity  as  to  men  and  measures,  the  same  directness 
of  purpose,  and  firmness  of  decision.  These  qualities  were 
exerted  as  Governor  during  our  revolution  with  such  effect 
that  the  people  never  forgot  it,  and  they  witnessed  their  gra 
titude  by  confiding  to  him  the  government  of  this  State  for 
twenty  one  years,  and  the  second  office  in  the  Union  for  eight 
more.  His  behavior  in  society  was  plain  but  dignified,  his 
conversation  easy,  shrewd,  sensible,  and  commonly  about 
matters  of  fact — the  events  of  the  revolution,  the  politics  of 
the  day,  the  useful  arts,  and  agriculture.' 

" '  Is  Hamilton's  house  still  standing  ? ' 

" 4  Not  that  in  which  he  laboured  as  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  to  restore  the  ruined  credit  of  the  nation,  and  re 
duce  our  finances  and  revenue  laws  to  order  and  uniformity — 
where  he  wrote  the  Federalist,  and  those  admirable  reports 
which  now  form  the  most  luminous  commentary  upon  our 
constitution.  That  was  in  Wall  street ;  it  has  been  pulled 
down,  and  its  site  is  occupied  by  the  Mechanics'  Bank.  His 
last  favourite  residence  was  the  Grange,  his  country-seat  at 
Bloomingdale,  which  when  I  last  saw  it  remained  much  as 
he  left  it.' 

"  Mr.  Viellecour  and  myself  ordered  some  refreshment,  as 
a  kind  of  apology  for  the  freedoms  we  had  taken  with  the  old 
mansion.  On  leaving  it  we  walked  down  Greenwich  street, 
moralizing  as  we  went  on  the  changes  which  time  was  work 
ing  so  much  more  visibly  in  this  little  corner  of  the  world 
than  in  any  other  part  of  it  which  I  had  seen — where  the 
flight  of  years  seemed  swifter  than  elsewhere,  and  to  bring 
with  it  more  striking  moral  lessons.  After  an  absence  of 
thirty  years  from  the  great  cities  of  Europe,  I  beheld  when  I 
revisited  *hem,  the  same  aspect,  venerable  still,  yet  neither 
newer  nor  older  than  before,  the  same  order  of  streets,  the 
same  public  buildings,  the  same  offices,  hotels  and  shops,  the 
same  names  on  the  signs,  and  found  my  way  through  their 
intricacies  as  if  I  had  left  them  but  yesterday.  Here,  on  the 
other  hand,  when  I  returned  after  an  absence  of  two  /ears, 
every  thing  was  strange,  new  and  perplexing,  and  I  lost  my 
way  in  streets  which  had  been  laid  out  since  T  left  the  city. 


RICHMOND     HILL     AND     OLD     IfEW     YORK.         433 

"  My  companion  often  stopped  to  look  at  houses  and  sites 
of  which  he  had  some  remembrance.  '  There,'  said  he,  point 
ing  to  a  modest  looking  two  story  dwelling  in  one  of  the 
cross-streets — 'there  died  my  good  friend  Mons.  Albert,  a 
minister  of  our  French  Protestant  Church  about  twenty 
years  ago,  a  very  learned  and  eloquent  divine,  and  the  most 
modest  man  I  ever  knew.  He  was  a  native  of  Lausanne,  a 
nephew  of  Deyverdun,  the  friend  of  Gibbon,  who  figures  in 
the  correspondence  and  memoirs  of  the  historian.  Mons.  Al 
bert  was  much  in  the  society  of  Gibbon,  and  has  related  to 
me  many  anecdotes  of  his  literary  habits  and  conversation.' 

" '  I  must  not  suffer  you  to  monopolize  all  the  recollections 
of  the  city,'  said  I  to  my  friend.  c  Observe,  if  you  please, 
that  house  on  the  corner  opposite  the  one  to  which  you  have 
directed  my  attention.  There  lived  for  a  time  my  old  ac 
quaintance  Collies,  a  mathematician,  a  geographer,  and  a 
mechanician  of  no  mean  note.  He  was  a  kind  of  living  anti 
thesis,  and  I  have  often  thought  that  nature  made  him  ex 
pressly  to  illustrate  that  figure  of  rhetoric.  He  was  a  man 
of  the  most  diminutive  frame  and  the  most  gigantic  concep 
tions,  the  humblest  demeanour  and  the  boldest  projects  I  ever 
knew.  Forty  years  ago,  his  mind  was  teeming  with  plans  of 
western  canals,  steam-boats,  rail-roads,  and  other  public  enter 
prises,  which  in  more  fortunate  and  judicious  hands  have 
since  proved  fruitful  of  wealth  to  the  community,  and  of 
merited  honour  to  those  who  carried  them  through.  Poor 
Collies  had  neither  capital  to  undertake  them  himself,  plaus 
ibility  to  recommend  them  to  others,  nor  public  character  and 
station  to  give  weight  and  authority  to  his  opinions.  So  he 
schemed  and  toiled  and  calculated  all  his  life,  and  died  at 
eighty,  without  having  gained  either  wealth  for  himself,  or 
gratitude  from  the  public.  The  marine  telegraphs  in  this 
port  are  a  monument  of  his  ingenuity,  for  he  was  the  first  man 
of  the  country  who  established  a  regular  and  intelligible  sys 
tem  of  ship  signals.' 

"  My  friend  stopped  at  some  of  the  shops  to  make  inquiries 
concerning  the  ancient  inmates.  At  length  I  heard  him  ask 
ing  for  Adonis.  'Pray  '  said  I,  '  who  is  this  modern  Adonis 


434  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

for  whom  you  are  inquiring  ?  some'4  smooth  rose -cheeked  boy" 
doubtless,  like  him  of  Mount  Libanus.'  '  This  Adonis,'  replied 
Mr.  Yiellecour,  'is  neither  a  "smooth  nor  rose-cheeked  boy,'' 
being  in  fact  a  black  old  man,  or  rather  gentleman,  for  a  gen 
tleman  he  is  every  inch  of  him,  although  a  barber.  I  say  is, 
for  I  hope  he  is  still  alive  and  well,  although  I  have  not  seen 
him  for  some  years.  In  this  sneaking,  fashion-conforming, 
selfish  world,  I  hold  in  high  honour  any  man  who  for  the  sake 
of  any  principle,  important  or  trifling,  right  or  wrong,  so  it 
be  without  personal  interest,  will  for  years  submit  to  incon 
venience  or  ridicule.  Adonis  submitted  to  both,  and  for 
principle's  sake.' 

" '  Principle's  sake ! — upon  what  head  ? ' 

" '  Upon  his  own,  sir,  or  upon  Louis  the  Sixteenth's,  just  as 
you  please.  Adonis  was  an  old  French  negro,  whom  the  con 
vulsions  attendant  in  the  West  Indies  upon  the  French  re 
volution,  threw  upon  our  shores,  and  who  held  in  the  utmost 
horror  all  Jacobinical  and  republican  abominations.  He  ha'3 
an  instinctive  sagacity  as  to  what  was  genteel  and  becoming 
in  manners  and  behaviour,  as  well  as  in  the  cut  of  a  gentle 
man's  hair,  or  the  curl  of  a  lady's.  He  had  attended  to  the 
progress  of  the  French  revolution  with  the  greatest  interest, 
and  his  feelings  were  excited  to  the  highest  pitch  when  he 
heard  of  the  beheading  of  the  French  king,  and  the  banish 
ment  of  the  royal  family.  He  then  deliberately  renounced 
the  French  nation  and  their  canaille,  parvenu  rulers,  and  in 
testimony  of  the  sincerity  of  his  indignation  and  grief,  took 
off  his  hat  and  vowed  never  to  put  it  on  again  until  the  Bour 
bons  should  be  restored  to  the  throne.  This  vow  he  faith 
fully  kept.  For  twenty  years,  through  all  weathers,  did  he 
walk  the  streets  of  New  York,  bare-headed,  carrying  his  hat 
mder  his  arm,  with  the  air  of  a  courtier,  filled  with  combs, 
scissors,  and  other  implements  of  his  trade,  until  his  hair, 
which  was  of  the  deepest  black  when  he  first  took  it  off,  had 
become  as  white  as  snow.  For  my  part,  I  confess,  I  never 
Baw  him  on  my  occasional  visits  to  the  city,  walking  to  the 
houses  of  his  customers  without  his  hat,  but  I  felt  inclined  tc 
take  off  my  own  to  him.  Like  all  the  rest  of  the  world,  J 


K1CHMOND     HILL     AND     OLD     NEW     \  ORK.         435 

took  it  for  granted  that  the  loyal  old  negro  would  never  wear 
his  hat  again.  At  length  in  the  year  1814,  the  French  armed 

schooner ,  with  the  white  flag  flying,  arrived  in  the  port 

of  New  York,  bringing  the  first  intelligence  of  the  return  of 
the  Bourbons  to  their  throne  and  kingdom.  Adonis  would 
not  believe  the  report  that  flew  like  wild-fire  about  the  city ; 
he  would  not  trust  the  translations  from  the  French  gazettes 
that  were  read  to  him  in  the  American  papers  by  his  custom 
ers,  but  walked  down  to  the  battery,  with  the  same  old  hat 
under  his  arm  which  he  had  carried  there  for  twenty  years^ 
saw  the  white  flag  with  his  own  eyes,  heard  the  news  in 
French  from  the  mouth  of  the  cook  on  board  the  vessel,  and 
then  waving  his  hat  three  times  in  the  air,  gave  three  huzzas, 
and  replaced  it  on  his  head,  with  as  much  heart-felt  pride  as 
Louis  the  18th  could  have  done  his  crown.' 

"  I  could  not  help  smiling  at  the  earnest  gravity  of  the  old 
gentleman's  eulogy  upon  Adonis.  '  I  fear,'  said  I,  '  that  your 
chivalric  coiffeur  owes  a  little  of  his  sentimental  loyalty  to 
your  own  admiration  of  every  thing  generous  and  disinter 
ested.  TVhen  you  are  excited  on  this  head,  sir,  you  often 
remind  me  of  what  old  Fuseli,  in  his  energetic  style,  used  to 
say  of  his  great  idol  Michael  Angelo— "  All  that  he  touched 
was  indiscriminately  stamped  with  his  own  grandeur.  A  beg 
gar  rose  from  his  hands  the  Patriarch  of  poverty ;  the  very 
hump  of  his  dwarf  is  impressed  with  dignity."  I  suspect  you 
have  been  unconsciously  playing  the  Michael  Angelo  in  light 
ing  up  such  a  halo  of  consecrated  glory  round  the  bare  and 
time-honoured  head  of  old  Adonis.  I  am  afraid  I  cannot  do 
quite  as  much  for  another  tonsorial  artist  of  great  celebrity 
who  flourished  here  in  our  days,  but  whom,  as  at  that  time 
you  were  not  much  in  the  habit  of  coming  to  town,  perhaps 
you  do  not  remember.  He  made  no  claim  to  chivalry  or 
romance,  his  sole  ambition  was  to  be  witty  and  poetical ;  and 
witt)  he  certainly  was,  as  well  as  the  vehicle  and  conduit  of 
innumerable  good  pleasantries  of  other  people.  I  mean  John 
Desborus  Huggins.' 

44  «  Huggmfe-— Huggins,'  said  Mr.  De  Viellecour.    '  I  knew 


436  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

a  young  lady  of  that  name  once,  she  who  is  now  Mrs. , 

the  fashionable  milliner.' 

" l  Oh,  yes — that  incident  of  your  life  cannot  easily  lose  its 
place  in  my  memory.  But  John  Desborus  Huggins  was  no 
relation  of  hers.  He  was  of  pure  English  blood,  and  had  no 
kindred  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  At  the  beginning  of 
this  century,  and  for  a  dozen  years  after,  he  was  the  most 
fashionable,  as  well  as  the  most  accomplished  artist  in  this 
city  for  heads,  male  and  female.  He  had  a  shop  in  Broadway, 
a  low  wooden  building,  where  now  towers  a  tall  brick  pile 
opposite  the  City  Hotel.  This  was  literally  the  head-quarters 
of  fashion,  and  fortune,  as  usual,  followed  in  the  tram  of 
fashion.  But  Huggins  had  a  soul  that  scorned  to  confine  its 
genius  to  the  external  decoration  of  his  customers'  heads. 
He  panted  after  wider  fame ;  he  had  cut  Washington  Irving's 
hair,  he  had  shaved  Anacreon  Moore,  when  he  was  here,  and 
Joel  Barlow,  on  his  first  return  from  France ;  from  them  he 
caught  the  strong  contagion  of  authorship.  One  day  he  wrote 
a  long  advertisement,  in  which  he  ranged  from  his  own  shop 
in  Broadway  to  high  and  bold  satire  upon  those  who  held  the 
helm  of  state  at  Washington,  mimicked  Jefferson's  style,  and 
cracked  some  good-humoured  jokes  upon  Giles  and  Randolph. 
He  carried  it  to  the  Evening  Post.  The  editor,  the  late  Mr. 
Coleman,  you  know,  was  a  man  of  taste  as  well  as  a  keen 
politician.  He  pruned  off  Huggins'  exuberances,  corrected 
his  English,  threw  in  a  few  pungent  sarcasms  of  his  own,  and 
printed  it. 

" '  It  had  forthwith  a  run  through  all  the  papers  on  the 
federal  side  of  the  question  in  the  United  States,  and  as  many 
of  the  others  as  could  relish  a  good  joke,  though  at  the  ex 
pense  of  their  own  party.  The  name  of  Huggins  became 
known  from  Georgia  to  Maine.  Huggins  tried  a  second  ad 
vertisement  of  the  same  sort,  a  third,  a  fourth,  with  equal 
success.  His  fame  as  a  wit  was  now  established ;  business 
flowed  in  upon  him,  in  full  and  unebbing  tide.  Wits  and 
would-be  wits,  fashionables  and  would-be  fashionables, 
thronged  his  shop ;  strangers  from  north  and  south  had  then 
beads  cropped,  and  their  chins  scraped  by  him,  for  tho  sake  ot 


RICHMOND     HILL     AND     OLD     NEW    YORK.        43. 

laying  on  their  return  home  that  they  had  seen  Huggins ;  whilst 
luring  the  party-giving  season,  he  was  under  orders  from  the 
ladies  every  day  and  hour  for  three  weeks  ahead.  But  alas, 
unhappy  man !  he  had  now  a  literary  reputation  to  support, 
and  his  invention,  lively  and  sparkling  as  it  had  been  at  first, 
soon  began  to  run  dry.  He  was  now  obliged  to  tax  his  friends 
and  patrons  for  literary  assistance.  Mr.  Coleman  was  too 
deeply  engaged  in  the  daily  discussions  of  grave  topics  to 
continue  his  help.  In  the  kindness  of  my  excellent  friend, 
the  late  Anthony  Bleecker,  he  found  for  a  long  time  a  never- 
failing  resource.  You  were  not  much  acquainted  with 
Bleecker,  I  think — the  most  honourable,  the  most  amiable, 
and  the  most  modest  of  human  beings.  Fraught  with  talent, 
taste,  and  literature,  a  wit  and  a  poet,  he  rarely  appeared  in 
public  as  an  author  himself,  whilst  his  careless  generosity 
furnished  the  best  part  of  their  capital  to  dozens  of  literary 
adventurers,  sometimes  giving  them  style  for  their  thoughts, 
and  sometimes  thoughts  for  their  style.  Bleecker  was  too 
kindly  tempered  for  a  partisan  politician,  and  his  contribu 
tions  to  Huggins  were  either  good-natured  pleasantries  upon 
the  fashions  or  frivolities  of  the  day,  or  else  classical  imita 
tions  and  spirited  parodies  in  flowing  and  polished  versifica 
tion.  Numerous  other  wits  and  witlings,  when  Bleecker  grew 
tired  of  it,  some  of  whom  had  neither  his  taste  nor  his  nice 
sense  of  gentlemanly  decorum,  began  to  contribute,  until  at 
length  Huggins  found  himself  metamorphosed  into  the  regu 
lar  Pasquin  of  New  York,  on  whom,  as  on  a  mutilated  old 
statue  of  that  name  at  Rome,  every  wag  stuck  his  anonymous 
epigram,  joke,  satire  or  lampoon,  on  whatever  was  unseemly 
in  his  eyes  or  unsavoury  in  his  nostrils  in  this  good  city.  I 
believe  he  was  useful,  however.  If  his  humanities  had  not 
been  too  much  neglected  in  his  youth  to  allow  him  to  quote 
Latin,  he  might  have  asked  with  Horace — Ridentem  dicere 
\.erum — .' 

" '  My  dear  sir,'  interrupted  the  old  gentleman,  c  if  you  will 
quote,  and  I  see  you  are  getting  into  one  of  your  quoting 
modes,  you  had  better  quote  old  Kats,  my  maternal  grand 
mother's  favourite  book,  the  great  poet  of  Holland  and  com 


438  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

inon-sense.  He  has  said  it  better  than  Horace:  'Haar  lage« 
hend  coysheid  laert,  haar  spelend  vormt  ter  deuyd.'  You 
ought  always  to  quote  old  Kats,  whenever  you  can,  for  I  sus 
pect  that  you  and  I,  and  Judge  Benson,  are  the  only  natives 
south  of  the  Highlands  who  can  read  him.  But  to  return  to 
your  barber-author. ' 

" '  Huggins  became  as  fond  and  as  proud  of  these  contribu 
tions  as  if  he  had  written  them  all  himself,  and  at  last  col 
lected  them  together  in  one  goodly  volume,  entitled,  Hug- 
giniana,  illustrated  with  designs  by  Jarvis,  and  wood-cuts  by 
Anderson.  He  was  now  an  author  in  all  the  forms.  Luckless 
author !  His  '  vaulting  ambition  overleaped  itself.'  He  sent 
a  copy  of  his  book  to  the  Edinburgh  Review,  then  in  the 
zenith  of  its  glory,  and  the  receipt  was  never  acknowledged 
He  sent  another  copy  to  Dennie,  whose  Port  Folio  then  guided 
the  literary  taste  of  this  land,  and  Dennie  noticed  it  only  in 
a  brief  and  cold  paragraph.  What  was  excellent  in  a  news 
paper  jeu  d'esprit,  whilst  events  and  allusions  were  fresh, 
lost  of  course  much  of  its  relish  when  served  up  cold,  years 
after,  in  a  clumsy  duodecimo.  Besides,  not  having  been  able 
to  prevail  on  himself  to  part  with  any  thing  which  had  once 
appeared  under  his  name,  much  very  inferior  matter  was  suf 
fered  to  overlay  those  sprightly  articles  which  had  first  given 
him  eclat.  Then  the  town  critics  assailed  him,  and  that  'most 
delicate  monster,'  the  public,  who  had  laughed  at  every  piece, 
good,  bad,  and  indifferent,  singly  in  succession,  now  that  the 
whole  was  collected,  became  fastidious,  and  at  the  instigation 
of  the  critics  aforesaid,  pronounced  the  book  to  be  '  low.' 
Frightful  sentence !  Huggins  never  held  up  his  head  after  it. 
.His  razors  and  scissors  lost  their  edge,  his  napkins  and  aprons 
their  lustrous  whiteness,  and  his  conversation  its  soft  spirit 
and  vivacity.  His  affairs  all  went  wrong  thence  forward, 
and  whatever  might  have  been  the  immediate  cause  of  hia 
death,  which  took  place  a  year  or  two  after,  the  real  and  effi 
cient  reason  was  undoubtedly  mortified  literary  pride 
Arcund  his  tomb,'  as  old  Johnson  says  of  Archbishop  Laud— 

"  Around  his  tomb,  let  arts  and  genius  weep, 

But  hear  his  death,  ye  block-heads,  hear  and  sle^p." 


BICHMOND     HILL     AND     OLD   NEW    YORK.          439 

"  We  had  now  got  far  down  into  the  old  part  of  the  city, 
irhen,  turning  up  Yesey  street  from  Greenwich,  Mr.  De 
Viellecour  made  a  sudden  pause.  *  Ah,'  said  he,  '  one  more 
vestige  of  the  past.  There,'  pointing  to  a  common  looking 
old  house,  'there,  in  1790,  was  the  atelier  of  Ceracchi,  when 
he  was  executing  his  fine  busts  of  our  great  American  states 
men.' 

"  '  Indeed ! '  answered  I — c  I  have  often  thought  of  it  as  a 
singular  piece  of  natural  good  fortune,  that  at  a  time  when 
our  native  arts  were  at  so  low  an  ebb,  we  had  such  an  artist 
thrown  upon  our  shores  to  perpetuate  the  true  and  living 
likenesses  of  our  revolutionary  chiefs  and  sages.  Ceracchi's 
busts  of  Washington,  Jay,  Alexander  Hamilton,  George 
Clinton,  and  others,  are  now  as  mere  portraits  above  all 
price  to  this  nation ;  and  they  have  besides  a  classic  grace 
about  them,  which  entitle  the  artist  to  no  contemptible  rank 
as  a  statuary.5 

" 4  It  was  not  a  piece  of  mere  good  fortune,'  said  my  friend. 
4  We  have  to  thank  the  artist  himself  for  it.  Ceracchi  was  a 
zealous  republican,  and  he  came  here  full  of  enthusiasm,  anx 
ious  to  identify  his  own  name  in  the  arts  somehow  or  other 
with  our  infant  republic — and  he  has  done  it.  He  had  a  grand 
design  of  a  national  monument,  which  he  used  to  show  to  his 
visitors,  and  which  he  wished  Congress  to  employ  him  to 
execute  in  marble  or  bronze.  Of  course  they  did  not  do  so, 
and,  as  it  happened,  he  was  much  more  usefully  employed  for 
the  nation  in  modelling  the  busts  of  our  great  men.' 

" '  He  was  an  Italian,  I  believe  a  Roman,  and  had  lived 
'Ome  time  in  England,  where  he  was  patronized  by  Reynolds. 
Bir  Joshua  (no  mean  poof  of  his  talent)  sat  to  him  for  a  bust, 
and  a  fine  one  I  am  told  it  is.  Ceracchi  came  to  America 
enthusiastic  for  liberty,  and  he  found  nothing  here  to  make 
him  change  his  principles  or  feelings.  But  the  nation  was  not 
ripe  for  statuary — a  dozen  busts  exhausted  the  patronage  of 
the  country,  and  Congress  was  too  busy  with  pounds,  shil 
lings,  and  pence,  fixing  the  revenue  laws,  and  funding  the 
debt,  to  think  of  his  grand  allegorical  monument.  Ceracchi 
x)uld  not  live  upon  liberty  alone,  much  as  he  loved  it,  and 


440  LIFE     OF     AARON     BURR. 

when  the  French  revolution  took  a  very  decided  character, 
he  went  to  France,  and  plunged  into  politics.  Some  years 
after  he  returned  to  Rome,  where  he  was  unfortunately  killed 
in  an  insurrection  or  popular  tumult,  growing  out  of  the  uni 
versal  revolutionary  spirit  of  those  times.' 

" '  May  his  remains  rest  in  peace,'  added  I.  '  Whatever 
higher  works  of  art  he  may  have  left  elsewhere — and  he  who 
could  produce  those  fine  classic,  historical  busts,  was  un 
doubtedly  capable  of  greater  things — whatever  else  he  may 
have  left  in  Europe,  here  his  will  be  an  enduring  name.  As 
long  as  Americans  shall  hold  in  honoured  remembrance  the 
memory  of  their  first  and  best  patriots — as  long  as  our  sons 
shall  look  with  reverend  interest  on  their  sculptured  images, 
the  name  of  Ceracchi  will  be  cherished  here  : 

"And  while  along  the  stream  of  time,  their  name 
Expanded  flies  and  gathers  all  its  fame  ; 
Still  shall  his  little  barque  attendant  sail, 
Pursue  the  triumph  and  partake  the  gale.' 

"  We  had  now  finished  our  long  walk,  and  as  the  old  gen 
tleman  was  going  into  his  lodgings,  I  took  leave  of  him." 


THE     ELECTION    OF    1800. 

FOUR  notes,  written  by  Burr  at  New  York  to  his  relation. 
Pierpont  Edwards  of  New  Haven,  in  the  very  crisis  oi 
the  presidential  election  of  1800,  have  come  to  light.  Tc 
some  readers  they  will  be  interesting. 


THE     ELECTION    OP    1800.  441 

**  Thursday,  20th  (Nov.)  Ev'g. — If  you  have  survived  the 
letter  which  I  wrote  you  this  morning,  you  will  have  lived  to 
hear  better  tidings.  Tins  afternoon,  arrived  in  six  days  from 
Georgia,  Mr.  Jones,  member  of  congress  from  that  state  and 
a  very  intelligent  man.  He  considers  the  vote  of  S.  C.  as 
undoubtedly  republican — saw  General  Pinkney  in  Savannah 
about  ten  days  ago — says  that  the  General  appeared  to  enter 
tain  no  other  hope  than  that  of  compromising  so  as  to  run  his 
own  name  with  Jefferson — that  in  Georgia  there  are  but  five 
federal  men  in  the  two  houses  of  legislature. — He  (Jones) 
disbelieves  the  account  which  I  transmitted  you  yesterday 
respecting  N.  C.,  and  says  that  we  cannot  have  less  then  seven 
votes. 

"  21st  Nov. — We  have  now  the  assurance  of  six  votes  in 
Maryland  and  a  confirmation  of  the  favorable  temper  of  the 
Legislature  of  S.  C. — After  all  there  is  no  certainty  without 
R.I. 

"The  Legislature  of  Maryland  have  postponed  until  their 
next  session  the  appointment  of  a  Senator  to  Congress  in  the 
place  of  Lloyd. — As  an  entire  election  of  their  State  Senate 
will  intervene,  there  is  little  room  to  doubt  of  a  republican 
in  Lloyd's  stead.  Yours  A.  B. 

"Will  your  electors  be  unanimous  for  Pinkney? 

"Ih.'ve  little  hope  of  any  good  from  Penn'a, — they  talk 
and  wri  i  .  great  deal  but  do  little." 

"No-,  York,  Nov.  26,  1800. — You  despond  without  rea 
son.  If  wo  have  R.  I.,  Jefferson  will  have  a  majority  even 
without  Penn'a  or  S.  C. — but  in  S.  C.  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that  he  will  have  the  whole  eight. 

"You  do  not  answer  my  enquiries  as  to  the  votes  which 
A.  will  have  in  N.  England.  Yours  A.  B." 

"Nov.  29,  1800. — S.  C.  will  probably  give  an  unanimous 
»7ote  for  Pinckney  and  Jefferson, — Maryland  5  and  5, — N.  C. 
8  and  4, — Penn'a  probably  no  vote.  If  your  people  (New 
England)  leave  out  P.  from.  2  or  3  votes,  J.  will  be  Pres't,— 
otherwise  doubtful. 

"  What  became  of  Williams'  suit  ?    A.  B." 


442  LIFE     OF     A  AH  ON     BUBK. 

"New  York,  Dec.  1,  1800. — I  receive  this  moining  youi 
letter  of  the  20  -27th.  It  is  highly  probable  that  P.  will  have 
the  votes  of  S.  C. — but  A.  will  in  no  event  have  a  vote  there. 
In  Maryland  we  have  five  only  and  in  N.  C.  eight. — Penn'a 
nothing. — Advise  me  of  the  votes  of  your  electors  as  soon  as 
given  and  known. 

"  Win.  Burbridge  arrived  yesterday  in  good  order.  I  like 
his  physiognomy. 

"I  expect  to  be  at  home  on  the  12th  and  thenceforth  til] 
Jan.  Yours  A.  B." 


XL 

THE    ELECTION    OF   JEFFERSON    AND    SURE. 

A  CUKIOUS  relic  of  party  strife  is  a  Fourth  of  July  oration, 
delivered  at  New  Haven  in  1801,  a  few  months  after  the  ac 
cession  of  Jefferson  and  Burr,  by  Theodore  Dwight,  brother 
of  the  celebrated  president  of  Yale  College.  The  following 
are  extracts : — 

"  It  is  probable  that  the  persons  who  compose  this  audience, 
have  never  met  to  celebrate  the  anniversary  of  American  In 
dependence,  with  sensations,  similar  to  those  which  they  ex 
perience  this  day.  Since  the  last  year,  the  Administration  of 
our  national  government  has  gone  into  the  hands  of  men, 
tf horn  the  generality  of  ihe  people  of  ISTew  England  have  long 
•viewed  as  its  enemies — men  whose  principles  and  practices 
we  have  both  feared  and  reprobated.  A  change  of  this  sort 
in  a  country  like  this,  could  not  have  been  wrought  without 
a  violent  struggle.  One  side  grasping  at  power  and  emolu 
ments  ;  the  other  eagerly  endeavouring  to  save  their  constitu 


THE     ELECTION     OP    JEFFERSON     AND     BURR.    443 

tion  and  country,  exhibit  to  our  view  a  state  of  things  which 
presupposes  passion,  strife,  and  tumult,  success  having  crowned 
the  exertions  of  the  party  which  with  no  small  share  of  par 
ade  assumes  the  title  of  Republican ;  but  which  in  more  cor 
rect  phraseology,  is  called  Jacobinical. 

"That  government,  which  the  collected  wisdom,  virtue, 
and  patriotism  of  the  United  States,  originally  planned,  and 
which  we  flattered  ourselves,  was  established  in  its  operations, 
under  the  auspices,  the  skill,  the  pre-eminent  virtue,  and 
singular  talents  of  THE  FATHER  OF  HIS  COUNTRY,  is  now  the 
sport  of  popular  commotion — is  adrift  without  helm  or  com- 
pass,  in  a  turbid  and  boisterous  ocean. 

"  The  great  object  of  Jacobinism,  both  in  its  political  and 
moral  revolution,  is  to  destroy  every  trace  of  civilization  in 
the  world,  and  to  force  mankind  back  into  a  savage  state 
That  is,  in  plain  English,  the  greatest  villain  in  the  com 
munity  is  the  fittest  person  to  make  and  execute  the  laws. 
Graduated  by  this  scale,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  Jacobins 
have  the  highest  qualifications  for  rulers. 

"  We  have  now  reached  the  consummation  of  democratic 
blessedness.  We  have  a  country  governed  by  blockheads 
and  knaves ;  the  ties  of  marriage  with  all  its  felicities  are 
severed  and  destroyed ;  our  wives  and  daughters  are  thrown 
into  the  stews ;  our  children  are  cast  into  the  world  from  the 
breast  forgotten ;  filial  piety  is  extinguished  and  our  sur 
names,  the  only  mark  of  distinction  among  families,  are 
abolished.  Can  the  imagination  paint  any  thing  more  dread 
ful  this  side  hell  ?  Some  parts  of  the  subject  are  indeed  fit 
only  for  horrid  contemplation." 


14  DAY  USE 

!TURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 
LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed  '  °f 

sewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


LD  21A-50m-9,'58 
(6889slO)476B 


.General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


YC  50827 


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